The Hon. Kirstin K. Schoonover is a judge for the Vermont Superior Court. She was appointed to the bench by former Governor Peter Shumlin in 2015, filling the vacancy created by the elevation of the Hon. Harold Eaton, Jr. to the Vermont Supreme Court.
Schoonover has held assignments in the Probate Division in Chittenden County and the Family Division in Washington County.
Prior to her appointment, she was an attorney for Vermont Legal Aid since 2007, where she advocated on behalf of victims of domestic violence, the mentally ill, and individuals facing housing and benefit termination. Before that, Schoonover was a public defender in Chittenden County and an assistant attorney general for the Department of Children and Families. She relocated to Vermont in 2000, after a stint as a public defender in Washington State.
Schoonover received a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College. She then completed a J.D. at the University of San Francisco School of Law.
She has served as a member of the Family Division Oversight Committee.
Her husband, Hon. Brian K. Valentine, is a magistrate judge for the Family Division of the Vermont Superior Court. The couple were both appointed to the bench by then-Governor Shumlin in 2015.