Matthew R. Joyner
Matthew R. Joyner
Corporate and Transactional Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, Franchises and Business Divorce
As a practical business lawyer, Matt helps entrepreneurs and investors start, run, buy and sell businesses.
One major difference between Matt and other business attorneys is his practical experience running a business as general counsel and vice president of administration for an international manufacturing company. As part of its executive team, he managed non-lawyers in the human resources and environment, health and safety departments, in addition to serving as solo in-house counsel.
Matt also has the unique experience of ten years in the courtroom as a commercial litigator.
Matt’s approach is practical, realistic and coming from a place of personal experience, not academic, detached and unhelpful. One of his highest compliments was when a client stopped their conversation to say, “You know, you’re a different kind of lawyer. I can talk to you.”
A Chapel Hill native, Matt has practiced in Charlotte his entire career.
Areas of Practice
- General Business and Corporate Governance
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Employment Issues and Compensation
- Business Formation and Financing
- Franchise Negotiation
Comprehensive Corporate and Commercial Representation
Matt’s typical client at Bishop, Dulaney, Joyner & Abner is a business owner who worked in a large organization at one time and was accustomed to receiving legal services from large firms. Now they are running their own business, and do not need or want to pay for all the resources a large firm deploys. They appreciate sophisticated legal services delivered on the same scale as their business.
Matt focuses his practice on corporate and commercial matters including:
- LLC formations and operating agreements
- Corporate asset purchases and sales
- Negotiating and drafting business contracts, commercial real estate leases and franchise agreements
Matt has extensive experience in all facets of business law including:
- Joint ventures (JVs)
- Business divorce and buyouts
- Confidentiality agreements
- Non-competition agreements
- Non-solicitation agreements
- Employment agreements
- License agreements
- Shareholder agreements
Blog posts
Education and Clerkship
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- Law clerk to Hon. J. Dickson Phillips, Jr.
University of Pennsylvania Law School
- Juris Doctor, 1984
- University of Pennsylvania Law Review Editor
Dartmouth College
- Bachelor of Arts in history, magna cum laude, 1981
- Phi Beta Kappa
Community Leadership and Involvement
- North Carolina Bar Association Business Law Section (member)
- North Carolina Bar Association North Carolina Limited Liability Company Act Legislation Committee (member)
- North Carolina Bar Association Corporate Counsel Section (former chair)
- Mecklenburg County Bar Association Corporate Counsel Section (former chair)
- Manufacturers and Chemical Industry Council of North Carolina (former board member)
- Central Piedmont Community College Institute for Entrepreneurship instructor
- Aldersgate Continuing Care Retirement Center (former director)
- Methodist Home Child Development Center (former president)
- Rotary Club of Charlotte former director and youth exchange officer, 2013 Rotary International Avenues of Service Citation recipient and Paul Harris Fellow
- Boy Scouts of America Pack and Troop Founder, Scoutmaster, Philmont Advisor, Order of the Arrow and Wood Badge Owl Patrol
- National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, Mecklenburg Chapter (member)