Valerie L. Patten

Family law is about relationships and preserving a sense of protection, proportion, fairness, and careful attention to the needs of children, particularly when adult relationships disintegrate.

My lifelong interest in nonviolence as a viable means of conflict resolution has also contributed to my law practice. Nonviolence teaches us to look for alternatives to conflict; it teaches us to think issues through from multiple perspectives, again, generating ideas. The solutions to problems cannot all be the same for everyone.

My art law practice primarily focuses on helping artists negotiate contracts such as consignment agreements, licensing agreements, and artist-gallery representation agreements, collaborative artistic efforts, art in public places, and contracts involving performance and display.