skip to main content
Matthew S. Furman

Matthew S. Furman

Partner

Direct: 617-624-4794

Overview click to toggle this section

Overview

With over 15 years of experience in complex litigation, Matt Furman, a partner at the firm, primarily represents commercial real estate firms, developers and landowners in high-stakes disputes concerning land use, permitting, title, boundaries, commercial leases, purchase rights and other real estate related controversies.  His practice emphasizes strategic advocacy in the Land Court and other forums where real estate and land use issues are litigated.

Matt’s approach begins with a focus on his clients’ long-term business goals.  Whether the matter calls for aggressive litigation or a more pragmatic tactic, he tailors his strategy to reflect what truly matters to the client.

He regularly tries cases before judges and juries in Massachusetts courts, including the Land Court and the Superior Court’s Business Litigation Session.  He also represents clients in appellate matters before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Massachusetts Appeals Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

An active member in the professional community, Matt currently serves as a Co-Chair of the Litigation Section of the Real Estate Bar Association (REBA) as well as a member of REBA’s Land Use and Zoning and Commercial Leasing sections.  He is also a frequent contributor to REBA News.

Representative Results

Real Estate and Business Litigation

  • Successfully defended on appeal a $2.15 million judgment in favor of luxury hotel client from a long-running commercial lease dispute with restaurant operator

  • Persuaded a Massachusetts Land Court judge after trial to rule in favor of the firm’s developer client with a decision reforming deeds and mortgages for two Fall River projects and quieting the developer’s title to the disputed portions

  • Persuaded appellate court to award luxury hotel client nearly $600,000 in unpaid base rent from tenant and possession of the leased premises in summary process proceeding

  • Persuaded a Massachusetts Superior Court judge to award summary judgment to the seller of adjacent parcels under purchase and sale agreement based on the buyer’s bad faith breach

  • Obtained a defense judgment following a bench trial in Massachusetts Superior Court dismissing an adverse possession claim as to commercial property owned by client

  • Persuaded a Massachusetts Land Court judge to affirm broad easement rights for full access to clients’ property via a driveway that crisscrosses the boundary lines of several subdivided parcels

  • Defeated a preliminary injunction request allowing client to proceed with its long-planned historic building renovation

  • Persuaded a Massachusetts Superior Court judge to deny a hotel operator’s preliminary injunction request in a lease dispute with the property owner (the firm’s client) based on the operator allowing the property to fall into disrepair

  • Persuaded judge to impose $22,000 per month interim use and occupancy fees on alleged trespasser after two-day trial during summary process action

  • Successfully moved to dismiss municipal challenge to initial project eligibility determination made on Chapter 40B affordable housing project

  • Obtained defense judgment following bench trial in Massachusetts Superior Court dismissing commercial landlord’s claims against president of corporate tenant individually for unpaid rent, fees and penalties

  • Persuaded a Massachusetts Land Court judge to issue preliminary injunction and summary judgment in favor of burdened property owner in easement dispute

  • Authored amicus brief to Supreme Judicial Court as it considered reaffirming long-standing easement rule and had reasoning adopted in subsequent decision

  • Obtained dismissal of claims against Arizona company sued in federal court in Boston on jurisdictional grounds, which the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed
     

Employment Litigation

  • Part of team of attorneys who prevailed at Supreme Judicial Court defending Boston’s taxicab medallion owners sued by class of drivers for employee misclassification and resulting wage and hour violations
     
  • Successfully defended employer in arbitration over former employee’s wrongful termination claims
     

Probate Litigation

  • Played significant role in securing a $4.8 million jury verdict in Providence Superior Court on behalf of two estates seeking the return of inheritance money in an investment account

Experience

  • Todd & Weld LLP (2017-present)
  • Tarlow Breed Hart & Rodgers, P.C., (2009-2017)
  • Judicial Intern, Worcester County Superior Court (2008)

Credentials

Education

  • Suffolk University Law School (J.D., 2010) Moot Court Honor Board; Winner of Best Oral Advocate Award; Jurisprudence Award in Antitrust; Editor, Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy
  • Syracuse University (B.A., magna cum laude, 2006)

Bar Admissions

  • Massachusetts
  • U.S. District Court, Massachusetts
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit

Professional Activities click to toggle this section

Professional Activities

  • Real Estate Bar Association of Massachusetts
    - Co-Chair, Litigation Section (2026-present)
    - Member, Litigation, Land Use and Zoning, and Commercial Leasing Sections
     
  • Boston Bar Association
    - Member, Business and Commercial Litigation Steering Committee (2022-2025)
     
  • Massachusetts Bar Association
    - Member, Business Law Section Council (2010-2013)

Publications/Presentations click to toggle this section

Publications/Presentations

  • Presenter, "Navigating the Quagmire of Commercial Evictions and Tenant Counterclaims," Real Estate Bar Association webinar, April 2025
  • Presenter, "Rights of First Refusal," Boston Bar Association webinar, April 2024
  • Presenter, "The Massachusetts Lis Pendens Statute," Boston Bar Association webinar, April 2023
  • MCLE Presenter, 22nd Annual Business Litigation Conference, "Preserving, Searching for, and Discovering Key Evidence," February 2023
  • "Discerning the Meaning of 'Clear Proof' in Adverse Possession and Prescription Cases," REBA News, March 2022
  • "Claims to reform don’t necessarily accrue on recording," REBA News, September 2020
  • Presenter, Litigating Employment Cases: Recent Trends and Rule Changes, Boston Bar Association, June 2019
  • MCLE Presenter, General and Affinity Bar Associations Panel as part of Practicing and Professionalism Program (2018)
  • "Even after 'Taylor,' difficult litigation will persist," REBA News, September 2017
  • "Chapter 93A's Hannon Right Becomes the Latest Casualty of Arbitration Supremacy," Massachusetts Law Review, Vol. 96, No. 3 (April 2015)
  • "How Chapter 93A Consumers Lost Their Day in Court: One Legislative Option to Level the Playing Field," Suffolk Journal of Trial & Appellate Advocacy, Vol 15 (May 2010)
  • Presentation, "An Overview of Chapter 93A," Bentley University, Consumer Law (2013)
  • Co-Chair, Massachusetts Bar Association's Lifecycle of a Business Series (2011-2013)

Honors and Awards click to toggle this section

Honors and Awards

  • Named to Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation (2025-present)
  • Named to Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch for Commercial Litigation; Litigation – Real Estate (2023-2024)
  • Named to Massachusetts Super Lawyers for Business Litigation (2024-present)
  • Named by Super Lawyers to Massachusetts Rising Stars for Business Litigation (2012, 2019-2023)
  • Named to Boston Magazine's Top Lawyers (2024)

In the Community click to toggle this section

In the Community

  • Friends of Hebrew SeniorLife, Board of Directors (2012-2016)
  • Syracuse University Alumni Club of Boston
  • Trustee, 14-unit condominium association (2016-2021)