Vanessa’s work focuses on enforcing the civil rights of individuals involved with the criminal justice system. She represents people impacted by police misconduct, including individuals who were wrongfully convicted, subjected to excessive use of force, falsely arrested, or denied their First Amendment right to protest. She also represents people living in unlawful conditions in correctional facilities, including victims of sexual abuse and excessive force, as well as families whose loved ones have died while incarcerated due to denials of medical and mental health care. Vanessa has achieved substantial victories on behalf of her clients, including record jury verdicts and settlements.
Prior to joining Kaplan & Grady, Vanessa was a Clinical Associate Professor of Law at the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. For nearly a decade while at MJC, Vanessa taught and supervised law students while working on cutting-edge civil rights litigation challenging injustices in the criminal legal system and promoting systemic reform. Vanessa also spearheaded MJC’s movement lawyering work and represented community organizations seeking an end to abusive policing tactics and immigrant justice. Through her representation of impacted individuals and her partnerships with affected communities on litigation, Vanessa has shut down discriminatory gang databases, increased community oversight of law enforcement, advanced the rights of transgender prisoners throughout the Illinois Department of Corrections, and improved access to mental health services in jails and prisons.
In addition to her legal work, Vanessa serves as a Commissioner on the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC), which investigates claims of police torture used to obtain confessions leading to criminal convictions and determines whether there is sufficient credible evidence of torture to merit judicial review.
Vanessa is the recipient of the Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and Federal Bar Association, as well as the BOLD Campaign Award from the Grassroots Collaborative People’s Gala.
Vanessa received her law degree from Stanford Law School in 2013 and her bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from Yale University in 2010. After law school, Vanessa served two years as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Rubén Castillo in the Northern District of Illinois.
