Growing up legally blind was ideal for any child, but Matthew Batlin made the best of it. Though he did have some vision, it wasn't enough to get by on his own - whether with the aid of corrected vision via glasses or alone - and thus had him at a disadvantage for most of his youth. Aside from the regular taunting of 'four eyes' or whatever lack-of-imaginative-thought nickname his peers could come up with, which Matt got used to overtime, it was the pity that radiated from others when they learned of his condition. He didn't want their pity, he never asked for it, but it was there and it was what was the most challenging for him to deal with.

But he learned to deal with it; he learned to hide his aversion to it and just shake it off. His mother, Maggie, was a big influence for the years that she was around - making sure that her son didn't feel as if he was anything less than special and normal and his father, Jack, sure as hell made sure his son couldn't use his vision impairment as an excuse for damn near anything. And aside from all of that, Matthew couldn't really find anything to complain about. His home life, as far as he knew, was what most kids wished for. Except for the fact, that behind closed doors, his father was a ruthless man toward his mother.

It wasn't until Jack was 11 did he find out what typically transpired between his parents. His father was a cruel man in the ring, but Matt had always believed that he left that behind when he got home. But once he saw the swollen and bruised eye of his mother, and the unusually reddened knuckles of his father, did he piece two and two together. The moment that Maggie had realized that Matt finally caught on was the moment she fled and left the young boy in the hands of his father.

Life with his father wasn't the easiest, but the two grew close after his mother left. Unfortunately their bond didn't last long when during a fight, Jack met his final knock-out. With a severe head injury and bleeding to the brain, Jack was rushed to the hospital, but the doctor's were unable to save him. The desertion of his mother at 11 and now the loss of his father at 15, Matt was put into the hands of the state until they could reach any family that would take him in. His grandfather, a hateful and mildly racist man in his 80's, was the only family that was willing to take the young boy in.

Matt finished out his teenage years under the roof his grandfather's two bedroom apartment in Queens. With an inheritance now unlocked to him, Matt had left New York for the similar streets of Boston. There had always been an underlying goal for Matt to go off to an Ivy League school. To prove all those naysayers wrong, to show them that he was just as smart and capable as any other person was. With his acceptance to Harvard, Matt began life on his own.

And what felt like several lifetimes later, Matt passed his BAR exam and was allowed to practice law in the state of Massachusetts. Prior to landing his first paying position at the law-firm he is still currently with, Matt interned at various different firms and within the District Attorney's office, some paying some not. He wanted to get the hands on feel for the work, but also be able to keep his level of stress from skyrocketing. That didn't quite pan out as he had hoped, but it taught him a valuable lesson: life is a living hell.

On the eve of his 27th birthday, Matt was offered a position with the Law firm of Murdock and Nelson. It was a low paying gig, but another foot in the door to a place that he had already made quite the name for himself. The two partners promised that if he stuck with them and proved himself capable, that he'd have a chance to make partner as well.

It was that promise, that possibility, that had Matt setting high expectations for himself and dead-set on meeting every single one of them. With each goal slowly getting checked off, Matt grew more and more confident in his abilities. Not that he looked forward to defending criminals, but he hoped that as he paid his dues, he'd have more influence of the law the firm practiced and would be given the chance to handle some cases on his own.

It wasn't until recent years did Matt finally have a chance to really stand out and shine as his own person and not with a team of lawyers ready to throw him under the bus if he happened to screw up. With a large party and a speech made in his honor, Matt was made senior associate of his firm, the second to last step in becoming a partner at his firm. It was from there on, Matt was taken more seriously.

He has since been continuing his work in defending criminals as a senior associate with Murdock and Nelson, taking on his own cases with a team of interns, and as of recent tallies, the only lawyer in his firm to have never lost a case.