Valentina Shaknes is a founding partner at KSTM. For nearly 20 years, she has practiced exclusively in matrimonial and family law. Valentina represents clients in a wide variety of complex matrimonial matters involving equitable distribution and custody disputes, child and spousal support, prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements, as well as international child custody and international child abduction disputes, including proceedings arising under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
Valentina is an active certified divorce mediator and a certified parent coordinator. She firmly believes that settlement-based approach is the best path for most families. Whenever possible, Valentina seeks alternatives to litigation and advocates for her clients in securing out-of-court resolutions through mediation, collaborative law, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.
Consistently ranked by Chambers High Net Worth as a top lawyer for Family/Matrimonial Law in New York, clients and peers have described Valentina as “extremely practical and tenacious but also very solution-oriented.” Valentina is a frequent expert source for the media on topics related to matrimonial and family law, and she has also written extensively on proceedings under the Hague Convention.
Before co-founding KSTM, Valentina served as co-chair of the matrimonial practice at McLaughlin & Stern LLP. After graduating from law school, she was an associate in the matrimonial department of Blank Rome LLP, where she worked with the other three founding partners of KSTM.
HONORS
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
- Co-chair, Matrimonial Group | McLaughlin & Stern
LEADERSHIP
- FiLiA Hague Mothers, International Strategy Group
- New York City Bar Association, Matrimonial Law Committee
- New York County Lawyers Association, Matrimonial Law Section
- New York State Bar Association, Family Law Section and the Children’s Rights Committee
- Sanctuary for Families, Member of the Legal Advisory Council
- Women’s Bar Association, Family Law Committee
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
- “The Hague Convention Comes to Hollywood, ” Corporate LiveWire 2023 Family Law Expert Guide, December 13, 2023
- “The Supreme Court Got at Least One Thing Right This Term,” New York Law Journal, July 22, 2022
- Presenter, Practising Law Institute, “Addressing Domestic Violence 2022: The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction and Its Intersection with Child Custody Law,” February 2022
- “Ameliorative Measures Gut the Grave Risk Exception Under the Hague Convention,” New York Law Journal, July 23, 2021
- "SCOTUS 'Clarifies' 'Habitual Residence' Under the Hague Convention,” New York Law Journal, July 24, 2020
- "10 Tips to Best Position Yourself in a Custody Dispute,” Divorce Magazine, March 15, 2020
- “Beyond Broken Bones, Recognizing Psychological Harm to Children When Applying ‘Grave Risk of Harm’ Standard,” New York Law Journal, July 27, 2018
- Presenter, AFCC, 56th Annual Conference, Toronto, “International Jurisdictional Disputes: The Challenges of International Relocation and the Risk of Abduction,” May 2019
- Presenter, New York County Lawyers Association, “Civil Aspects of Litigating an International Child Abduction Case Under the Hague Convention: How to Prove the ‘Grave Risk of Harm’ Defense,” July 2018
- Presenter, New York State Bar Association, “Basics of Matrimonial Practice, Discovery,” October 2017
ADMISSIONS
- New York
- Connecticut
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
EDUCATION
- Brooklyn Law School (J.D., 2007, cum laude)
- Rutgers University (B.A., 1999, summa cum laude)
