A native of Potts Camp, Matt is a 1989 graduate of The University of Mississippi and a 1999 cum laude graduate of The University of Mississippi School of Law, where he finished in the top ten percent of his class. He is a member of the Mississippi Bar Association, Union County Bar Association and the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association and has been admitted to practice in Tennessee courts (State and Federal), Justice, Chancery, Circuit, Federal, District, and 5th Circuit Court of Appeals courts.

Matt served on the Mississippi Law Journal and has received several awards in the field of bankruptcy. Matt is an Eagle Scout and currently serves as an officer in the New Albany Kiwanis Club and President of the Union County Ole Miss Alumni Club. He and his wife Jennifer (J.J.) have three children and are active in First United Methodist Church in New Albany.

EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI SCHOOL OF LAW

• Juris Doctor, May 1999
• Grade Point Average: 3.45/4.00
• Class Rank: 17/141 (Top 15%)
• Mississippi Law Journal
• Matthew Y. Harris, Comment, Chapter 13 Cramdown Interest Rates:  Another Day, Another Dollar–A Cry For Help in Ending the Quest for the Appropriate Rate, 67 MISS. L.J. 567 (1997).  Cited in In re Palmer, 224 B.R. 681, 683 (Bankr. S.D. Ill. 1998)
• Outstanding Student Award:  Debtor-Creditor (Bankruptcy)
• Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference Scholarship (Spring 1998)
• Selected for Duberstein National Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition (1998 and 1999)
• 1999 team placed in the top four nationally and won award for second-best brief

UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI

• Bachelor of Business Administration in Managerial Finance, August 1989

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Licensed in Mississippi and Tennessee

American Society of Association Executives

Memphis Society of Association Executives – Elected to 1996 Board of Directors

Memphis Lumberman’s Club – Elected to 1996 Board of Directors

Union County Ole Miss Alumni Association – President  2000-Present

New Albany Kiwanis Club – Treasurer 2000-2006, Board of Directors, President (2006)

First United Methodist Church of New Albany – Lay Speaker 2006, past Lay Leader, finance committee

Member of New Albany School District Board of Trustees

Ole Miss Alumni Club – Past President

HONORS AND PERSONAL

NA Gazette reader’s choice award for best lawyer for 2014 & 2017

Outstanding Young Men of America

Eagle Scout

Father of 3 children and widower of Jennifer (JJ) Harris and Deana Golding Harris

Current President of the Delta Xi Chapter of Kappa Sigma House Corporation (Ole Miss)

Currently serves on Board of Trustees for New Albany District of the First United Methodist Church of New Albany

Past Trustee of the New Albany School District