James D Van Ness

I needed help with my divorce and Jim Van Ness did a wonderful job guiding me through this difficult process. He was knowledgable, diligent and confident. I would recommend to anyone needing a family law attorney!

Hello, My name is Vince B. I hired James Vanness for a very difficult custody case in 2012. The other party was a different kind of extreme borderline personality disorder. This case was about as extreme and filled with about as many reckless and abusive and costly lies about me as a case could be. Regretfully, My ex and daughter's mother is one of the greatest pyschopath masterminds of all time. Only thanks to Jim and his staff was I able to make sense of of the most difficult time in my life and my daughter's life. Even though the other party cost a grand toll in lies, manipulation and deciet in front of a court audience, Jim remained calm and collective, focused on pertinent issues and after representing me for 4 years in ongoing defense of lies and accusations made against me he ended up getting me awarded with full custody of my daughter with grounds to move across the country. Jim is incredibly honest, funny, genuine, has great empathy, is caring, morally sound, and reasonable on cost. If he or his staff state they are going to do something they are on top of it immediately and get the job done for you no matter what it takes. He and his staff have gone to extreme lengths in my case and in the end we won, even though it took just over 4 years. Thanks to Jim Vanness at Vanness Williamson and his staff my 9 year old daughter and myself have obtained a new lease on life and a life of peace. Well outside of fees paid for service I am indebted to this man and his firm. We could not have done this without him. Sincerely, Vince B

Take notice of how he responded to clients on this site who disagreed with him or wrote a negative review. This is indicative of my experience. He started out as if he knows a lot, but ends up in a pile of fees with no results and defensiveness. To be specific: 1) Did not respond in a timely manner to questions or sometimes not at all. 2) Submitted a hand-written draft of an official court document with lined out words and margin notes. I specifically stated that I wanted to discuss this document and the numbers before submission. 3) Scheduled and rescheduled hearings without consulting me to as to my availability or to even inform me that it had taken place. 4) Did not provide copies of court documents filed, correspondence to/from opposing counsel, nor copies of any discovery items supplied by the petitioner. 5) Failed to inform me of progress in the case, his strategy, what to expect in the process or any options I had ​available. 6) Sent an email requesting documents that I had sent a month earlier and billed me for it again. 7) Incompetently suggested we cancel a hearing and offer $1000/mo. in spousal support for life. He did ​not offer any alternatives or demonstrate a willingness to fight for me since my spouse had a professional degree and professional license ​with the ability to earn a living equal to mine. My new attorney negotiated a set, non-modifiable amount of spousal support which turned out to less than what Mr. Van Ness recommended I should pay in one year alone! 8) Exorbitant fee. No one expects an attorney to be inexpensive or to get 100% of a desired outcome. However, I do expect the attorney to at least pretend to be on my side and work for my benefit. This attorney did not. 9) He was fired over four months ago and continues to add fees for services. He filed a "Notice of Lien" on my property two weeks after I fired him. Everything Mr. Van Ness was not, my new attorney was. She was professional, courteous, explained everything, informed me every week, sent copies of emails, letters, discovery and ​well versed in family law. Don't waste your time or your money on Mr. Van Ness for family law issues. Find someone who specializes in the field with 100% of their representation in family law.

My experience with Mr. Van Ness is painful. He was happy to charge me a lot of money, but for wasted and undesired work. He was recommended and when we met seemed to be nice at first, but over time he just did not seem to be the brightest bulb and if for whatever reason he gets butthurt he lashes out - not very professional or conducive to helping resolve legal matters, especially in a high conflict situation. I definitely do not recommend.