Matthew Justin Vance

My former employer (I am retired) raised the co-pays on my retiree health insurance premiums. I insisted the co-pays were vested at the level existing when I retired. I consulted Matt. His services are expensive but he was efficient about the use of his time and provided a sensible accounting of s...ame. As a result of Matt's good advice, I was able to reach an acceptable compromise with my former employer.

In mid December I got an email from a former employer saying they were discontinuing health coverage and I needed to find my own. With less than two weeks to find coverage that was sufficient to keep my current doctors I was beyond stressed. In my gut something didn't sound right, as I was pretty con...fident the owners and leadership weren't going to leave themselves without comparable options of health insurance. I was introduced to Matt by another attorney who spoke very highly about him. He exceeded that recommendation! Keeping in mind I wasn't working at the time, he spent some time with me to make sure I understood my rights and effectively communicated to me what could be going on and the ways I could best handle. Caring, detailed and effective....Matt gave me the tools I needed to keep my insurance and resolve the situation very amicably. From the moment I met him he was calm and factual, helped me to find the confidence and peace that everything would be ok.

In January, 2016, I contacted my former employer to request forms to initiate my benefits through their Executive Retirement Plan, a “Top Hat Plan” providing deferred compensation for a select group of management/highly compensated employees. Instead of following the official claims procedure, my for...mer employer declared that a separate settlement agreement that I had signed at the time of my leaving the company, in which I agreed not to make future claims against the company effectively made my claim for the pre-existing benefits null and void. Upon contacting the law firm that negotiated the settlement agreement they advised me that the issues involved with this particular ERISA governed plan were beyond their area of expertise. They sought out recommendations for the best lawyer to handle my situation. The lawyer they felt was the best was Matthew Vance. Thank goodness they found Matt Vance. Mr. Vance exhibited the highest degree of professionalism. He was forthright from the very start in explaining the challenges of handling ERISA governed plans and was most realistic in laying out my odds of winning a case, should it end up in court. Matt was extremely thorough in researching the background facts of the case. He tirelessly examined all of the documentation that I had and communications that I had received from my former employer. We had several conversations in which he asked probing questions to fully establish the pertinent facts, both those which supported my claim and those which potentially could be liabilities. He has been a pleasure to work with because: 1) he listens; 2) he explains, without using legal mumbo-jumbo; 3) he considers challenges to his thinking; and 4) he has treated me as a partner in this effort, listening to my suggestions and incorporating my points of view in his work product. (I went to Dartmouth and got my MBA from the Tuck School, and, obviously, that doesn’t mean I have legal expertise. But to be listened to was gratifying.) Matt Vance handled the filing of my Executive Retirement Plan claims forms. He wrote a blisteringly precise letter explaining why the position taken by the Plan Administrator denying my claim because of the settlement agreement had no legal merit. This was not a “you think this, but we think that” argument. The entire basis for the refutation of the employer’s position was based in case law, ERISA regulations and the rules of the employer program itself. Six pages of brilliant exposition. Again, I’m just a lay person, but I think I know a smart and cogent argument when I read it. My employer backed down completely. They accepted my claim. Thanks to Matt Vance, I can now look forward to receiving retirement benefits for the rest of my life. If you want someone who is talented, who is upfront and honest, who explores all the details, who argues the facts and the law, who is one helluva nice guy, I can recommend Matt Vance most highly. He is that good.

It is hard to present here our full appreciation for what Matthew Vance did for my wife and I. I work for a union that has about 3/4 trillion dollars in assets. I have been working for this union off and on since 1978. I participate in its pension plan. I left the union in 1999 and came back to work... for the union in 2006. The union told me that it would give me all my previous time back, approximately 13 years, once I completed 10 years of service with no interruptions. That would mean I would be eligible for a pension of 23 years at the end of 2016. In 2012 the union changed the rules so that I would not get any of my previous years back. Because of a combination of bad management and a sluggish stock market the union’s pension plan moved into a critical status as assessed by the federal government. I felt very betrayed because I gave up a more lucrative opportunity so I could go back to work for the union and get a pension to retire with. The union had an appeals process to ask for an exemption to the new rule. I was ultimately denied. Thru a lot of phone calls to different attorneys over at least a month’s span I was referred to Matthew Vance. When I contacted his office he got right back to me and did not give me the same pitch every other attorney who dealt with Labor issues gave me. It seemed they were all involved with the workers compensation side of it and had very little to no experience with the more challenging pension issues. It was clear to me he had a handle on my situation right form the start. He wasn’t sure if he could help me until he did a complete analysis of my situation. He was very direct and honest about the risk. He told me what it would cost to do an analysis so he could make a determination and that at the end I could be just throwing this money right out the window. My wife and I thought it over and decided we were willing to take the risk in hopes of getting my needed pension years back. After his review he felt I had a leg to stand on. It was clear to us that he really understood the laws concerning pensions and knew how to deal with our situation. My wife and I decided to go forward. No other attorney I contacted knew anywhere near as much about the Federal Government’s rules and regulations governing pension plans. My wife and I were prepared for a costly financial battle to get those pension years back, but as it was, we never had to pay any more than the fee for the initial analysis. When Mr. Vance took over my situation and started dealing with the union’s attorneys it became even more clear to me that his knowledge of pension plans was extremely extensive to where the attorneys at the union knew I had an extraordinarily competent attorney representing me. The union’s attorneys knew they had battle ahead of them with little or no chance of success. The way Matthew Vance handled the union’s attorneys was nothing short of remarkable. He handled them in a very direct but non-threatening, extremely diplomatic and gingerly fashion; a gentleman in all his correspondence with them. With a union that has about 3/4 of a trillion dollars in assets, it is nothing short of a miracle that Mr. Vance resolved my situation getting all my pension years back without having to proceed any further with litigation. You have no idea how thankful we are for what Mr. Vance accomplished for the little money we paid him. That was over a year ago and we are still at awe when we think of what we were up against.

We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to Matt Vance for his work and dedication in securing a highly satisfying resolution to our recent labor pension case. Matt’s hard work and determination throughout the process validated the recommendation we received. As stated in our previous review we wo...uld highly recommend Matt without hesitation. We strongly feel that without Matt in our corner the outcome could have much different. Thank you again Matt for winning our case. Sincerely Lucille and Michael