New York—July 1, 2020—Krauss Shaknes Tallentire & Messeri LLP founding partners Caroline Krauss and Valentina Shaknes have been named to the New York Law Journal’s 2020 Distinguished Leaders list. The annual award recognizes attorneys in leadership roles who have achieved impressive results in the past year. Caroline and Valentina are two of only 23 attorneys honored this year.

Caroline is a fierce advocate for individuals in all matrimonial and family law matters, often protecting the interests of clients whose legal issues are complicated by their significant assets and heightened public profiles. Among other successes, she secured a landmark decision in New York’s highest court that overturned longstanding prejudicial rules toward same-sex parents in custody matters.

Valentina is a well-established leader of the matrimonial bar and represents clients in a wide variety of complex matrimonial and family law matters, particularly specializing in international child custody disputes. In a matter heard before the Southern District of New York and the Second Circuit, Valentina created new legal precedent in cases arising under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

In 2019, Caroline and Valentina, along with partners Heidi Tallentire and Jordan Messeri, co-founded KSTM, a premier boutique law firm that provides counsel to clients in the full range of matrimonial and family law matters. Having known each other for almost 20 years, Caroline and Valentina share an unwavering commitment to client service and the highest quality of legal work. They have also both been recognized as Trailblazers by The National Law Journal.

Caroline and Valentina will be featured in the New York Law Journal’s upcoming Professional Excellence issue and honored at the New York Legal Awards. The complete list of 2020 Distinguished Leaders is available here, and Caroline and Valentina’s profile can be found here.