Experienced Trust & Estate Litigator Heather Matsumoto Hoekstra Joins Downey Brand
December 15, 2022
Downey Brand is pleased to welcome Heather Matsumoto Hoekstra to the firm’s growing trust & estate litigation practice. Heather will be based in the firm’s San Francisco office.
Heather joins the firm as Counsel with more than ten years of experience focusing on elder rights advocacy and litigation. Areas of emphasis include financial elder abuse, forgery, fraud, undue influence, trust administration disputes, and contested conservatorships. Prior to joining Downey Brand, Heather was the founder and sole shareholder of Hoekstra Law, P.C., in Berkeley, a firm she started after six years of practicing trust and estate litigation in the Bay Area.
”We’re delighted to have Heather with us as we grow our trust and estate litigation practice in the Bay Area and across Northern California,” says Downey Brand litigation partner Jeff Galvin, editor of the Trust on Trial blog. “Heather is a zealous and engaging advocate, well versed in our field and well positioned to advance client interests.”
“I’m honored to work with Downey Brand and its reputable trust and estate litigation practice group. In collaboration with my new colleagues, I look forward to continuing to serve vulnerable clients who need advocates dedicated to preserving their dignity and autonomy, families who require counsel to protect loved ones from financial abuse, and beneficiaries and heirs who seek to resolve their inheritance disputes fairly and efficiently.”
Heather is a co-author of Capacity and Undue Influence: Assessing, Challenging and Defending, published by Continuing Education of the Bar, and serves as an officer and board member of East Bay Trusts and Estates Lawyers. She received her J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. She also holds a Masters of Public Administration in Environmental Science & Policy from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science & Environmental Ethics from the University of Georgia.