Areas of Practice
Matrimonial and Family Law
Elena is a partner in the matrimonial firm of Schlissel Ostrow Karabatos, PLLC. Elena is a Past President of the Nassau County Bar Association (NCBA). She is a Past President of the New York Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. She is a diplomat of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers. She is a member of the Attorney for the Children Advisory Committee for the Tenth Judicial District. Elena is a member of the Matrimonial Practice Advisory and Rules Committee for the New York State Office of Court Administration. Elena is a member of the ADR Advisory Committee for the Office of Court Administration and she also serves on the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board. Elena is a member of the Executive Committee of the Family Law section of the New York State Bar Association and was a member of the Nassau County Bar Association Delegation for the New York State Bar Association House of Delegates (2009-2012). Elena is a member of the New York Family Law American Inn of Court.
She was Chair of the Matrimonial Law Committee of the NCBA (2009-2011) for which she received the NCBA Directors’ Award 2010-2011 for outstanding service as Chair. Elena has served as a member of the Judiciary Committee of the NCBA, and on various Task Forces for the NCBA. She served as the chairperson of the Child Custody Sub-Committee and the co-chairperson of the Appellate Practice Sub-Committee of the NCBA. She was appointed by the presiding Justice of the Appellate Division to a special committee of the Nassau County Courts to make recommendations to the court system for the establishment of model custody litigation practices. She is a co-author, with partner Stephen W. Schlissel, of the second edition of Separation Agreements and Marital Contracts (Michie 1997).
She frequently lectures on a wide range of family law topics, regarding custody and parenting issues as well as financial issues, for various organizations such as the New York State, New York County and Nassau County Bar Associations, New York County Lawyer’s Association, Nassau Academy of Law, the Practicing Law Institute, The National Business Institute, Office of Court Administration-Judicial Seminars, Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Second Judicial Department, as well as various other organizations. For over a decade, Elena taught a course on negotiation at Hofstra Law School. For many years, Elena served as the course chairperson for the continuing legal education program on Matrimonial Litigation and Equitable Distribution at Fordham Law School, where she lectured on various topics.
Elena is an experienced negotiator of settlements and a trial lawyer. She is certified in advanced mediation by the Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution and by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York in mediating custody and visitation matters. She has been a facilitator and lecturer for the Nassau County P.E.A.C.E. (Parental Education and Custody Effectiveness) program. Elena is regularly selected for inclusion in “Best Lawyers in America” and “New York Super Lawyers” in the area of Family Law. For the past five years, she has been listed as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in the New York Metro Super Lawyers and in its 2021 edition she was listed as one of the Top 10 Lawyers in the New York Metro area. She has been recognized by “Ten Leaders” in the field of Matrimonial and Divorce Law, Long Island, and she has also been recognized in the “Who’s Who in Women in Professional Services” for the Long Island Business News. In 2017, she was voted as one of Long Island’s Ten Top Legal Eagles by Pulse Magazine. Elena was also named one of Long Island’s Power Women in Business by Long Island Press.
Elena is a Trustee for the Village of Sands Point, New York. Elena received a BA from Tufts University in 1983 cum laude and her JD from Brooklyn Law School in 1986. Elena is married to Bryan Skarlatos, a partner in the law firm Kostelanetz & Fink, LLP.
