Matthew D Taylor

I hired Matthew in February '21 to do my divorce paperwork and be a plan B if things went left with my Ex. Matt said he would try to get me on a $5k retainer but billing asked for $10k. Matthew seemed empathetic at first. He had a calm demeanor and gave the impression he would be invested in gett...ing me through the process. I gave my Ex an initial offer. She counter-offered asking for 3x the amount. One that would never be held up in court but I didn't know that. Matt did not tell me that. He told me two things. I couldn't afford to have him negotiate on my behalf and she could make it much worse. My best bet was to stick with him and do the negotiations myself. I did that, I negotiated a deal I should have never have entertained. I waited on Matthew to provide the final paperwork. This is where his apathy and incompetence saved me. It gave me time to double check and talk to other attorneys. I didn't get my paperwork when Matthew said I would, so I fired him. Billing let me know that Matthew had spent my $10k in all two months. They hounded me for $500 more as I "overspent" on my services. I let them know I would cover it if Matthew could explain how his initial estimate of < $5k ended up costing me over double that. Matthew never responded. I recently reached out to him and asked again. I asked for an explanation and a discussion on a refund of any amount. Matthew does not care about you if he knows he's already sucked you dry. I have never been treated so inhumanly by someone I was paying. I hired a different lawyer who cut my alimony in half. He did in less than 30 minutes with my exes lawyer and $3k. If you have millions in property, then Matthew is your guy. If you're reading this and realizing you made a mistake, it is never too late to fire your lawyer.

Matthew represented me in a divorce case for several months until mediation was completed. Having worked with one attorney prior to Matthew (pro-se divorce consultation), and one attorney after (representing me in trial), I can comparatively say I had a very poor experience with Matthew. While Matt...hew is very warm, empathetic, and agreeable and works at a "big-name" firm (things that brought me to Matthew), I found that he was not a strong advocate for me, was challenging to work with, and was significantly more expensive compared to my other attorneys (even the one who prepared for and spent 3.5 days in trial with me). Specific issues: (1) I asked Matthew to simply argue the data - that I couldn't afford what the opposing party wanted. But he didn't share this data or even my budget with the opposing party, and I believe this hurt me. We simply weren't aligned on strategy - to use data and facts (like what I earned and could afford to give) to argue the case, vs using his preferred tactic to let other parties go first w/ no info, then countering lower and then seeing where you land. This strategy had very little effect at moving the opposing party towards realistic numbers. (2) Matthew didn't advocate against a mediator becoming biased and actively inflating the opposing parties expenses and budget. (3) Matthew often told me to take bad deals I literally couldn't afford because he thought a court might possibly make a more adverse decision. I really just wanted him to fight for something that even got me to a $0 end of month budget (vs. something that put me in the negative). (4) Matthew was often not responsive to emails or phone calls for days to weeks at a time. Requests to improve this didn't change his behavior in a lasting way. (5) I asked to hold meetings to discuss strategy and next steps, but often couldn't schedule these until the day or day before arguments/documents/proposals were due. We were ill-prepared and I was ill-prepared because I didn't know what was coming (6) Matthew didn't provide clarity into upcoming bills (despite asking for this). I was surprised by how quickly large retainers were spent, and it was frustrating to see how much of the retainer was spent on printing huge binders never used, overhead costs you pre-agree to, and other firm employees I never met. (7) I eventually let Matthew go (in writing and via voicemail), but was invoiced for activities completed after I let Matthew go. It took months to successfully get the firm to drop the charges. I had none of these issues with my other attorneys. While I know Matthew couldn't control the outcome of my case, the process of working with him was very frustrating, and the cost was egregious when I compare the efficiency and pleasure I had of working with my other attorneys.

This review is difficult for me to share, but I feel I have to do it so at least others might be able to benefit from it. Matt simply was not a zealous advocate for me in my divorce.  I gave him the benefit of the doubt for a while because he had started out well. After a month or so, though, Matt b...ecame passive and barely did any work. For a while he wasn't really billing, so initially the expenses weren't very high, but by the end I was paying thousands and seeing little movement on my case. My divorce was straightforward; no kids, just division of a handful of assets.  It dragged on for well over a year though.  Opposing counsel, on behalf of my ex, would deliberately obfuscate and stall, and when faced with this, Matt simply accepted it. He did not push for transparency, did not find ways to push opposing counsel toward an end, and also did very little work himself. Weeks would go by with no communication from Matt, and when I'd reach out to check in, he would often times not respond.  One time he disappeared for almost a month.  I reached out to him three times to check in and ask if there was anything I could do to help move things forward, and he only responded after I told him I'd have to find other representation since my case was obviously not a priority for him.  Despite his assurances, his behavior did not change. A few times, Matt told me he was going to start work on something, then never did it.  For example, opposing counsel sent us a settlement proposal and Matt told me he would get working on a counter-proposal right away.  After 3 months and several attempts on my part to push or ask if I could help, there was still no counter-proposal from Matt. Finally, I requested mediation (an extra cost) in an effort to force an end myself. The mediation was a full day.  Matt's representation was fair, and we were able to negotiate the high points, although I now wonder if another attorney would have done better for me on those. At the end there were some details still open, and I tried to ask about them. Matt was in a hurry to leave and was dismissive of my questions, packing up while I was talking to him.  I was uncomfortable signing the agreement, but I decided to trust that Matt wouldn't leave anything important hanging. It turns out I misunderstood an essential piece that I would not have agreed to if Matt had explained it to me properly.  He also left a loophole that my ex exploited, which left me in financial limbo for what turned out to be months after the settlement.  When weeks turned into months after the settlement and there was no end in sight, I had to let Matt go. I retained someone else to finish the divorce (several thousand additional dollars that I really couldn't spare), and my new attorney was able to wrap it up within a few weeks of coming on board, despite encountering the same difficulties with opposing counsel that Matt had. She was just more proactive and wouldn't accept their tactics. To add insult to injury, Matt's firm charged me interest on my outstanding bill, which took a few months for me to be able to pay due to the loophole Matt had left in my agreement. Unfortunately, my experience was so frustrating that I can't recommend Matt or McKinley Irvin. Divorce is already one of the worst times in people's lives, and my ordeal with them just compounded it.  I hope they're able to offer a better experience to future clients.

Matt was amazing to work with! My divorce had Child custody issues, it was unnecessary lengthy, my X had major control issues and a blank check book to inflict pain. Matt worked with me all year dealing with false accusations, limited visitation and straight craziness. He had a good sense of whe...n to fight and when not to. Matt was always there for me and collected a lot of facts and listened well. Make no mistake he was able to play hard ball when needed. Example: First hour of mediation went south real bad!! My X’s Team (no joke) made a decision to take everything to trial. Matt was able to communicate with the mediator, have a discussion with her lawyer which then allowed him to speak to my X. He did what no man had ever done, he was able to reason with her. I was also impressed how well regarded he was with the mediator and his negotiating skills. I hired Matt to look after the best interest of my son, allow me to be present and an amazing Dad to him. I can say with an honest heart I am very alright with the outcome, I actually got one more day than I had, along with a parenting plan that limits her involmemt when he’s with me. Finances were very cut and dry, Matt was able to put a fair offer on the table with a ton of negotiating room which they excepted. I truly have no idea how this outcome ended better for me than her.

I hired Matt Taylor for my divorce mediation and would highly recommend him to all of my family/friends. Matt was extremely kind, compassionate, and did an excellent job explaining case law. The final settlement was twice the amount that my ex initially offered thanks to Matt's aggressive bargaining.... Matt was also vigilent enough to discover an interesting accounting technique my ex used that I did not notice.