Melissa Kucinski is a lawyer and mediator based in Washington, DC and New York. Her practice focuses exclusively on international family law. She has served as a mediator for high conflict, cross-cultural family law disputes since 2003. During her tenure as a mediator, she has advised on international family mediation for the U.S. government, International Social Service, and the Hague Conference on Private International Law. She is one of the only trainers to offer international family mediation training in the United States, including courses she has designed for the American Bar Association, University of California School of Law, and Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution. In 2014, she was invited to meetings between the U.S. and Japanese governments in Tokyo, Japan to discuss the impact of mediation on child abduction case brought under the Hague Abduction Convention. While in Tokyo, she trained the first group of Japanese private mediators to handle these cases. She served as Chair of a Working Group for International Social Service in Geneva, Switzerland to design a structure for an international family mediation network. Melissa’s mediation focus includes international parental child abduction cases, the international movement of children, and multi-jurisdictional matrimonial matters, including financial remedies and support matters. She has a specific expertise in jurisdictional disputes. Melissa is a member of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and the International Academy of Family Lawyers. In addition to her law degree, Melissa holds a Master’s Degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from the School of International Service at American University.

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