Elias Suakjian

Accomplished Family Law Attorney & Experienced Mediator
Elias Suakjian received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of California Los Angeles in 1998, where he graduated with Cum Laude honors. Prior to entering law school, Elias taught various subjects at the elementary, junior high and high school levels.

In 2003, Elias received his J.D. from San Joaquin College of Law and was admitted to the California State Bar. As a law student, Elias served as an intern for the law firm of Quinlan, Kershaw & Fanucchi (QKF) in Fresno, California and was invited to teach a weekly seminar/review course for first year students enrolled in the contracts course. After passing the bar exam, Elias was offered a position with QKF where he practiced civil litigation and developed the family law, contracts and real property departments. In 2008, Elias relocated with his family to San Mateo, California and joined the Hersh Family Law Practice where he represented high asset, high conflict clients with dissolutions and legal separations.

While at Hersh, a growing number of disputants expressed a desire to transition from the protracted, intrusive, expensive and antipathetic traditional litigation model of dispute resolution, over which they often have limited control, involvement, and understanding, towards a quick, private, fair, cost-efficient, and more durable alternative, which presents an opportunity for preserving working and familial relationships.  To accommodate this movement and to employ a more representative range of his skill set and character, Elias founded Suakjian Law & Mediation Practice (“SLMP”).  SLMP represents clients in family law and/or contract related litigation and offers mediation services for matters involving dissolution, legal separation, and annulment actions, uniform parentage matters, adoptions, guardianships, marital property disputes, custody, child support, spousal support, domestic violence, civil restraining orders, and pre and post marital agreements.