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Biography
Vanessa represents employers in all aspects of employment law. She has handled complex litigation and appeals throughout the United States, and involving a wide variety of claims including discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, unfair competition and trade secret litigation, and various ERISA matters. Vanessa has also assisted clients in drafting company-wide arbitration programs, executive employment and severance agreements, and non-competition agreements. She has first-chaired numerous arbitrations and trials for clients in the insurance, finance, construction, oil and gas, health, and retail industries.
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Representative
Experience
- Principal counsel for a national insurance company in the defense of, and arbitrations under, its dispute resolution program; this representation includes litigation throughout the United States, in federal and state court, for purposes of enforcing the program as well as numerous arbitrations conducted under the program
- Principal counsel in race discrimination suit brought by multiple plaintiffs alleging systemic race discrimination in pay and promotion practices. Obtained summary judgment on all claims and successfully defended judgment in the Fifth Circuit
- Representation of an international energy and construction company in obtaining enforcement of its dispute resolution program in numerous jurisdictions including the Texas Supreme Court, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits
- Representation of international technology company in numerous discrimination matters throughout the southwestern United States including obtaining summary judgment in New Mexico and affirmance by the Tenth Circuit in a national origin discrimination matter
- Representation of tugboat operator in various employment and labor matters including successful arbitration of labor dispute arising under the company's collective bargaining agreement
- Conducted numerous investigations of alleged sexual harassment and other types of wrongful conduct
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Activities and Affiliations
- Member: EEO Committee of the Labor Section of the American Bar Association; Houston Young Lawyers Association; Houston Bar Association
- Chapter Chair: 1998 and 2000 Supplements to Employment Discrimination Law
- Co-author: several seminar papers including "Communications with Class Member Pre- and Post-Certification," and numerous papers on various arbitration issues
- Listed: "Texas Super Lawyer" in employment & labor law, Texas Monthly, 2006; "Texas Rising Star" in employment litigation, Texas Monthly, 2005 and 2006; H Texas as one of the "Lawyers on the Fast Track," 2004
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Education and Professional Background
- Rice University, B.A. in economics, 1988
- The University of Texas School of Law, J.D., 1994 (Chancellors; Order of the Coif)
- Judicial clerk to The Honorable David Hittner, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, 1999-2000
- Admitted to practice: Texas, 1994; U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Northern and Western Districts of Texas; and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuit
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