Lawless Jerky

Voorhees, New Jersey

Lawless Jerky was founded by attorney Matt Tolnick, who realized that he could bring more smiles to more faces through his jerky than through his lawyering. So Matt bravely left his practice to pursue his passion: creating artisanal, small-batch jerky with powerful and unique flavors…“A Braver Flavor™”!

Lawless Jerky offers seven, world-inspired flavors all carefully handmade with Harris-Robinette Beef's 100% grass-fed, dry-aged beef. The only jerky that is dry-aged, our jerky is supremely tender — so good it should be illegal!!

In 2002, Matt was a 20 year-old sophomore at Duke University. On top of his school work, he worked at Duke’s fitness center, where he worked out religiously. To complement his weightlifting, he guzzled protein shakes, which were economical. But after a while, and after destroying many blenders (which was not economical!), drinking shakes became a chore, and he turned to beef jerky as a protein-rich workout supplement.

Many of his college friends shared my love for beef jerky. Their dorm was decorated with dozens of different types of jerky bags that we’d collectively purchased and plowed through. Ready to take our jerky game to the next level, they all chipped in and bought a dehydrator. In his dorm room Matt started to experiment with the dehydrator, creating his own marinades and made jerky that was at least as good as store-bought jerky.

In 2005 after Duke, he headed to law school in Los Angeles, where his Japanese roommates introduced him to Japanese food and culture. Still experimenting with jerky marinades and flavors, Matt achieved my first perfect beef jerky recipe: Japanese Curry. 

It wasn't till 2011, working as a litigator for years and feeling constrained did Matt really focus on honing his recipes in the kitchen. In the kitchen of a tiny Santa Monica apartment Lawless Jerky was born!