Valerie L. Patten

Founder of the Law Office of Valerie L. Patten, Valerie L. Patten handles matters of family law and represents clients in San Francisco, San Mateo County and the rest of the Bay Area and peninsula. With almost three decades of experience, she has her mediation certification from the Northern California Mediation Center and handles the following family law matters: child custody, property rights, support, marital settlement agreements, marital agreements and premarital agreements.

In 1972, Ms. Patten earned a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University. She then attended San Jose State University, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts in 1981 before moving on to law school at Georgetown University. In 1992 she earned her Juris Doctor, and she is now admitted to practice in the state of California.

Ms. Patten is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the Supreme Court of California and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. A member of the Santa Clara County Bar Association, the San Mateo County Bar Association and the State Bar of California, she is also an active member of the family law sections within these organizations.

To give time back to her community, Ms. Patten has worked on a guardianship panel for Legal Advocates for Children and Youth within the Santa Clara County Bar Association’s Law Foundation, and she has volunteered within the Santa Clara County Superior Court and the San Mateo County Superior Court. She also volunteered at the North County Jail with Prisoners’ Information Services and was a board member for DanceVisions, Young Audiences of San Jose/Silicon Valley and Friends of San Pedro Valley Park in Pacifica.  More recently, Ms. Patten has served as the Chairperson of the Community Affairs Committee of the San Mateo County Bar Association and as a member of the SMCBA Operations Committee.