Law Office of Matthew J. Van Den Hooven - Nanaimo, British Columbia

Manda B.

I worked with Matthew for close to a year, he blew through my legal aid funding then had to apply for additional funding which luckily was approved. After all this time, and I mean TIME! If you do retain Matthew as your lawyer expect to spens HOURS on the phone for for "meetings" still unable to complete an affidavit with me even with help from someone at legal aid.
Matthew also does not care about your time, I booked an appointment with Matthew at 11:00am, I finally received his call just before 5pm. I have a disabled child, and that would not matter je would keep you on the phone for no less then 2 hrs up to 6!!!
Also plan to show up at his "office" (his dinning room) on time, yet listen to him shower upstairs for ten minutes. How awkward, and disrespectful considering I was on time in his HOME! He was 15 minutes late, in his home!!
The topper though was him calling me 4 days before or first court appearance telling me he can no longer represent me due to him GETTING NOTICE TO MOVE, excuse me you dropped a case a year in the making case for a NOTICE, that your landlord is selling.....even the judge was in shock!

Save your time and Money/funding, thank me later!

Amanda J.

Matthew is knowledgeable, understanding, and professional. His personal approach and natural empathy are very reassuring.

joshua B.

First impressions were that he was good and he cared, even though I got him through legal aid. Which felt nice and like I wasn't lowest priority. But after my experience with him I now believe it might have been just so he could bill legal aid for as much as possible considering the way he handled court, and we ran out of time before even going to first court date. Let alone second, pretrial, or trial.

The experience: He dedicated lots of time discussing my case with me. And lots of time discussing personal interests (mine and his) not related to the case. This was my first experience with a lawyer and I suppose I was being naive, because I figured he was only billing legal aid for time spent discussing case details - but no, he used almost all of my legal aid time before our first court date - a family management conference (FMC). Going into this case My ex only let me see my daughter a few hours, 1 day a week, if at all. Yet I was available 24/7, and wanted minimum 50/50. I made it very very clear that I wanted matthew to ask for an interim order for more days and overnights. And that I was fighting for more time. I reminded him of that 1 day prior to our FMC in court, and asked to speak with him just before our video conference to go over it, which he said he would. But he didn't answer my calls before our 30 minute FMC appointment and then he called in 15 minutes late. I sat there waiting so nervously, and pretty embarrassed when the court people were talking about the fact we were waiting for my lawyer to call in. After things started my exes lawyer asked for an order limiting my time to no more than the few hours a week that my ex was giving me (they just wanted it in writing), the judge asked Matthew how I felt about the time I was getting with my daughter and his response was "he is okay with it", like WHAT!!!!!? this was in a video call and my phone was on mute so I wasn't able to speak up before the judge responded, concluded the meeting, and hung up. A few minutes later I called Matthew to ask why he said I was ok with the very little time I got with my daughter and his response was "ohh I must have said it facetiously" - which means treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor. Of course I was angry and very upset, knowing I had already missed over 99% of my 2 year olds life because of a controlling ex, and it was probably going to be over another year of that terrible schedule because my lawyer didnt take my case seriously. I got mad, hung up, called legal aid to request a new lawyer, then called him back to and tried telling him I was requesting a new lawyer through legal aid but he cut me off and insisted that he was already removing himself from my case - like an immature person quiting their job while their supervisor is in the middle of firing them.

So did I have a bad experience with Matthew - yes, and it cost me a lot of irreplaceable time with my 2-3 year old daughter over the next year, and would have been longer (As she postponed and delayed at every chance.) but my ex and I resolved things before getting to trial.
Do I think you will have a bad experience - not necessarily.
I think he could possibly be a good lawyer, after all he has some good reviews and left a good first impression - but for whatever reason, on that day for me, he was neither professional nor successful.

Terry Y.

Matthew and Vicky have been a light in all this darkness. Matthew has been very open, empathetic, and is very compassionate when supporting me and my daughter through my litigation process.
Vicky has been very busy and does an excellent job with setting up appointments, follow up calls, book keeping and paperwork. With that being said Vicki’s hard work behind the scenes has not gone unnoticed.
I am very happy with the results of their hard work and would recommend this legal firm to anyone who needs help with family law or any other legal matters.
Again, Thank you Mathew and Vicky for everything
Sincerely,
Terry and Tiana

Heather S.

Best lawyer out there! Genuinely cares! Nanaimo is so lucky to have him. Thank you Matthew !

Russell F.

Matthew worked with me and was a great guy to go to . He has my bussiness in the future.

Mandie B.

Rawand S.