Matthew Alan Radefeld

Matthew is the founding member of the Radefeld Law Group in Clayton, Missouri specializing in Federal and State criminal and crime victim's advocacy law. Over the last 25 years, he has tried cases throughout Illinois, Missouri, and the District Courts of Eastern and Western Missouri and the Southern District of Illinois. He has argued before the Eastern, Western and Southern Appellate Districts of Missouri, Fifth District Appellate Court of Illinois, the Missouri Supreme Court and U.S.C.A. for the Eighth and Seventh Circuits. He is licensed in the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S.C.A for the Armed Forces.

Matthew has served as Chair of BAMSL's Criminal Practice Section and was a member of its CLE Committee and Board of Governors. He served three terms on the Missouri Bar Young Lawyers Section, during which he served on its Executive Council, the Public Defender and Special Needs Task Forces. He is also a Past-President of the St. Louis County Bar Association. Lastly, Matthew has served on the Board of Directors for the Midwest Innocence Project and is an Executive Council member of the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (MACDL).

Matthew has a long service record with the U.S. Military. At the age of 17, he entered and served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves from 1993-2000. Soon after he was honorably discharged from the Marines, the 9/11 tragedy occurred and Matthew once again volunteered to serve his country. This time he was commissioned in the U.S. Army Reserves wherein he served 9 years in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps and obtained the rank of Captain. In both of these branches of the military, Matthew received numerous awards and commendations.

Matthew has a background in law enforcement and has prosecuted cases in both state and military courts. During law school, Matthew interned at the McLean County, Illinois State's Attorney's Office, the City of St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office and the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. Through these experiences, Matthew has had an opportunity to see how a criminal case works its way through the system and has utilized this knowledge to better assist his clients today.

Matthew has achieved the distinction of being rated as an AV-Preeminent lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell in the area of criminal defense, a distinction reserved for the Top 5% of lawyers in the nation. Throughout his career, he has received numerous other accolades for his litigation skills. Matthew's accomplishments in criminal trial work was recognized by his peers and judges when he was awarded the 2014 Lon O. Hocker Award for excellence in trial practice by the Missouri Bar. Matthew has also authored numerous legal articles and presented CLE's for the Missouri Bar, the Missouri Public Defenders Annual Meetings and Lorman Education Services.

In addition to defending criminal cases, Matthew has used his vast connections in St. Louis and his knowledge of the courtroom to represent individuals who have been a victim of a crime in civil cases against individuals and/or organizations that caused injury to another person. Matthew has also successfully assisted clients with representation in administrative hearings pertaining to Child Abuse and Neglect Review Boards, Title IX hearings at universities and colleges throughout Missouri and Illinois, Department of Mental Health proceedings, Department of Agriculture EBT benefits contests, Department of Defense Security Clearance hearings, Conceal and Carry Permit Appeals, federal and state forfeitures and order of protection hearings- to name just a few.