Matthew “Matty” A. Lopes, Jr. is a government relations and strategic advisor with nearly four decades of experience helping organizations navigate complex public policy, regulatory, and governmental matters. He advises businesses, nonprofit organizations, and institutions on government relations, public policy, and strategic communications, helping clients address legislative and regulatory challenges while advancing long-term strategic objectives. Throughout his career, he has represented organizations across a broad range of industries, including healthcare, transportation, education, pharmaceuticals, insurance, food service, and the nonprofit sector.
In addition to his government relations practice, Matty is nationally recognized for his work in court-appointed oversight and institutional reform. He has played a significant role in shaping public policy in Rhode Island, including advocating for the Council of State Governments Justice Center’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which helped strengthen rehabilitation, sentencing, probation, and parole practices throughout the state. He was also closely involved in the successful 2020 Rhode Island ballot initiative that removed the word “Plantations” from the state’s official name.
Committed to advancing equity within the legal profession, Matty has long championed increased diversity in Rhode Island’s judiciary. His dedication to public service was shaped early in his career while serving as an intern to the Honorable A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Experience
Special Master – Coleman v. Newsom (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California)
For 30 years, Matty has served as Special Master for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Coleman v. Newsom, overseeing prison reform and compliance with court orders concerning the care of seriously mentally ill inmates. In this role, he leads a team of deputy special masters, mental health clinical experts, mental health management and custodial experts, and monitors.
His work involves addressing complex constitutional issues under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution while assisting the parties and the court in the design and implementation of mandatory mental health screening, diagnosis, and treatment for approximately 34,000 incarcerated individuals with serious mental illness across 28 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institutions and three California Department of State Hospitals. He also provides extensive reports and recommendations to the court regarding conditions within the correctional system and other matters as directed by the court.
Court-Appointed Oversight and Institutional Reform
Prior to his appointment in Coleman, Matty served as court monitor, Deputy Special Master, and Special Master in major institutional reform cases before the United States District Courts in Texas, Georgia, and Rhode Island, including:
- Alberti v. Sheriff of Harris County (Texas): Led negotiations to resolve longstanding challenges within one of the nation’s most overcrowded detention systems.
- Fambro v. Fulton County (Georgia): Oversaw implementation of court-approved remedial plans addressing overcrowding, medical care, and sanitation.
- Inmates of the Youth Training School v. Affleck (Rhode Island): Directed remediation efforts and worked with the Rhode Island General Assembly to secure funding for the modernized Rhode Island Training School, which opened in 2009.
