Vanessa Meraz is an associate in the litigation practice, where she advises clients on a range of litigation matters.

She received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she was an associate editor of Berkeley Law Latine Journal of Law and Policy, Volume 32. During law school, she served as the 1L representative and co-chair of La Alianza Law Students of Latin American Descent. She also served as a student advocate for the East Bay Dreamers Project, a Berkeley Law Pro Bono student-led service project, and served on the founding executive board of UndocuStudents at Berkeley Law.

She received a B.A. in political science and a B.A. in letters from the University of Oklahoma (OU), where she founded and co-chaired OU Latinos Unidos and was president of the OU Hispanic American Student Association.

After graduating from OU, she worked as an immigration research assistant for the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). Previously, she was a legislative intern for Senator Michael Brooks-Jimenez of the Oklahoma State Senate.

Vanessa was a Robert S. Strauss Scholar in Akin’s 2022 summer associate class.