Continuing our Q&A series, our Chief Operational Officer, Demi, got to sit down and talk to another one of our lawyers, Matthew Pellerin!
Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Matthew has been with our firm since May of 2025 and has been a lawyer since his calling to the bar in 2022.
An avid outdoorsman, Matthew enjoys camping, hunting, and hiking with his versatile hunting dog (who is also a favorite around the office). With his strong roots in the prairies, Matthew is acutely aware of the hardships that families from Saskatchewan face, which makes him a perfect fit for anyone wanting to pursue a divorce and separation.
Lets dive into the interview!
Interviewer: Okay, so tell me a little bit about your educational background.
Matthew: I was raised in French immersion all the way from kindergarten to high school. And I jumped right into university, but I took my time with my undergrad. It took about six years to go and get it. Took a long time to go and pick out my undergrad major, but I ended up going with political studies. Generally sort of just picked whatever kind of interested me at the time, was still sort of finding my way. Found I kind of had an interest in arguments and logical reasoning. Loved political studies and philosophy classes, which dove a lot into argument. And so I decided to go and write the LSAT and I didn’t get a terrible grade, so they let me in.
Interviewer: What interested you in the practice of family law?
Matthew: Family law specifically really came from a personal place. I had just my family’s not just the best put together, which lots of people have messed up families, but I just really felt like I could have helped other people navigate similar situations and I could have done some good that way, specifically with family law. I felt that other areas of law, I had no personal investment in them. Whereas family law, I felt from the very beginning that was something I could personally relate to and that I could help other people avoid having some of the struggles I had, but also get some of the benefits that I had of how my family did navigate certain familial issues.
Interviewer: So what’s your favorite meal to have on a rainy day?
Matthew: Favorite meal to have on a rainy day, probably what I brought for lunch today, actually. A homemade stew is my favorite.
Interviewer: Yeah, what are you putting in that stew?
Matthew: Today I put home hunted geese, but normally when it’s not seasoned for that, I’ll usually just go with some kind of beef or something. But today I’ve got geese and I went and made it with a bunch of veggies and spices and nice hearty gravy.
Interviewer: So what’s a reflection you have about the difference from practicing in a firm that does a lot of litigation as compared to a firm that is settlement focused?
Matthew: I find that me personally, mentally I’m doing better in the profession generally, but also I’m finding that clients enjoy it better. When I previously was a much more litigation oriented lawyer who was constantly trying to go and talk to clients about why wasn’t this thing getting done quick or why did this not go quite as how we wanted it? Because a lot of clients going into court, they want everything you’re going after. Of course, as a lawyer, you have to say, well, I can’t guarantee you any results. Whereas settlement is obviously so much more solution oriented. I’m not as stressed because I’m not fighting with the other side as much. I find my relationships with other lawyers have improved substantially since I was a litigation lawyer. I honestly struggle to think of a downside of being more settlement focused.
Interviewer: So what’s a common myth that people have about family law?
Matthew: I think probably the biggest one that I find I’m correcting a lot of people on is: there’s no such thing as just being handed divorce papers to sign off on. I get that so often where a client comes in, okay, do we just go and put these together and we’re divorced? I’m like, that’s not how the system works. We’re not in a movie where it’s just a dramatic point. There’s much more of a system to it.
Interviewer: What led you to get involved with specifically training hunting dogs?
Matthew: I was raised into it. I was born into it. My dad, who he might not like me announcing this to everyone, but he’s a born and bred redneck. And he raised me the same way. He was always taking us outside. We spent all of our summers up at the lake and every fall season. If I wasn’t out in the field with him, he was telling us about it. And we always had hunting dogs since before I could walk.
Interviewer: What’s the most important skill for a family law lawyer to have?
Matthew: I would say, and it might not even be restricted to solely a family law lawyer, it’s learn to be okay with your mistakes. I think it’s an adult skill that everyone needs to learn, but law in particular, things just, they blow up, things fall apart. You just, maybe there’s just someone on the other side who’s got a better position or they’re just a much more experienced lawyer and they know what’s going on more and you’re going to take some losses. It happens. The whole point of it is you have to go and you’re building up your experience and you have to go and realize that these things happen no matter, to the best lawyers, things will go and fall apart. I’ve seen 30 year lawyers getting chewed out by judges in front of me in chambers. You have to be okay with failing.
Interviewer: What is one piece of advice you have for an aspiring and or new lawyer?
Matthew: I think that a lot of lawyers can get hung up in the particulars of their arguments and researching every single bit of law and making sure that their emails to the other counsel are perfectly crafted. But keeping your client updated on all things, making sure that they don’t feel lost. Having those follow-ups and making sure they understand what you’re doing throughout your file, I find makes things easier all around for both the lawyer and the client because. If they’re fully informed, the client can be much more part of the process.
Interviewer: What is something that you would share with a client who is seeking a shared parenting arrangement for their pets?
Matthew: It’s get it in writing! Yeah, and without getting too much into the technicalities pets aren’t considered They’re considered as just regular property under the law, which is a shame to me. Very much. And there’s some evolving law as I’m sure you’re aware Demi, out on the coast in BC where they’re regarding pets as not just a toaster. They actually have interests and they should and it’s becoming recognized that it’s in the children’s best interest to go and have the pets with them as well. But to get something remotely legally enforceable, get it in writing, put it into an agreement, figure out the terms you go and like, probably keep them simple because no judge is probably going to really want to go and deal with an application off of a pet custody agreement.
Interviewer: Why should somebody choose Panko Collaborative Law to help them through their family law matter?
Matthew: A lot of kind of what I was talking about is with my being more client focused and how being a settlement firm has wouldn’t change all these positives. That all goes hand in hand with Panko because they’re such a trailblazer as far as collaborative law goes. And it’s just a general motto. It’s to be focused on solutions and the client and not just the client. It’s the other party too. We want to make sure that families are moving forward as intact as possible.
If you want to learn more about Matthew, make sure to visit his profile page!