Prior to Matey's judicial service, he was a partner in the White Collar Criminal Defense and Litigation practice groups at the law firm of Lowenstein Sandler LLP.

Born in Edison, New Jersey and raised in Rahway, New Jersey,[1] Matey earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Scranton in 1993, and his Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2001, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Seton Hall Law Review.

Matey then worked as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, where he prosecuted matters including complex white-collar crimes, health care fraud, securities fraud, and child protection actions, and received the Director's Award for Superior Performance from the United States Department of Justice.

[5] In 2017, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recommended Matey, a former aide, to the Trump Administration to be a Federal Circuit Judge.

Matey stated that he had no personal knowledge of the decisions and called it, "the unfortunate act of several individuals who decided to take matters outside of the law and into their own hands.”[9] He was also questioned about his membership in the Federalist Society.