Vanessa focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants in federal and state courts. She has assisted clients in high-stakes matters concerning commercial contract disputes, and complicated statutory interpretation issues of first impression.

Vanessa is the pro bono liaison, chair of the Associates Committee, and the co-director of the summer associate program for the Ft. Lauderdale office.

Prior to joining the firm, Vanessa served as a law clerk to the Hon. William P. Dimitrouleas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, where she managed the civil docket in one of the busiest federal trial courts in the nation. Before law school, Vanessa taught elementary school in a Title 1 school where she was selected teacher of the year and awarded for achieving some of the highest learning gains in the district. Vanessa is co-founder of READ USA, Inc., an organization that has grown to a multimillion-dollar nonprofit serving more than 200,000 underserved children with programming, including high-quality books, one-on-one tutoring, and literacy resources. 

  • Authored amicus brief on behalf of grassroots organizations from the final three states that ratified the Equal Rights Amendment in seeking the ERA’s inclusion in the constitution
  • Representing the NAACP suing a school district to enforce a desegregation order that is still in force from 1964
  • Representing a leading cruise line concerning the lawful travel to Cuba in a case of first impression concerning the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act
  • Representing a mortgage subservice provider in a multimillion-dollar contract dispute concerning nationwide service of mortgages during the great recession
  • Representing a healthcare company in defense of breach of contract and tort claims
  • Representing a fortune 500 company in a breach of contract action in provision of solar energy projects
  • Representing a high-net-worth individual in an international dispute regarding ownership of a cruise line
  • Representing the beneficiaries of a family trust in an action to enforce provisions of the trust
  • Representing a world-renowned orthopedic surgeon in defense of a patent dispute

Co-author, Florida’s Small Businesses Still Need Pro Bono Counsel, Daily Business Review (June 2020)

  • The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, J.D., summa cum laude; Order of the Coif; Articles Editor, The Ohio State Law Journal; Teaching Assistant for The Supreme Court and the Civil Rights Movement taught by the law school dean and the university president; Intern for the Honorable Algenon L. Marbley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
  • University of Central Florida, B.A.; U.S. Senate Intern to The Honorable Bill Nelson

Bars

  • Florida

On the Rise, Daily Business Review (2022)

  • Hon. William P. Dimitrouleas, U.S. District Court: Southern District of Florida