Biography
Matthew Sanders is the Director of the King County Department of Public Defense (DPD), one of the largest and most well-regarded public defense agencies in the country. He began his career in public defense during his 3L year and joined DPD as a staff attorney in 2013.
Matt quickly established himself as a skilled trial attorney, taking serious felony cases to jury verdict throughout his career — including securing the acquittal of an African American father wrongfully charged with murder, who subsequently settled a civil lawsuit related to his wrongful arrest. He went on to hold progressively senior roles, including Juvenile Unit Supervisor and Managing Attorney of ACAD. As Director, Matt is leading DPD through a period of significant expansion and innovation, including the creation of a first-of-its-kind case-weighted credit policy informed by the 2023 National Public Defense Workload Study and the implementation of groundbreaking caseload standards.
Matt is a proud graduate of Seattle University School of Law and the Washington Leadership Institute. He serves on the board of Community for Youth, a mentorship organization for teenagers, and on the advisory board for the University of Washington's Gates Public Service Law Scholarship.
