Vernessa

Vernessa Poole is a commercial lawyer with a background in litigation. She now focuses her attention on drafting and negotiating complex agreements, where her litigation background helps reduce a client’s potential risk.

 

Vernessa was an attorney in Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s Commercial Litigation Department, representing mortgage lenders, banks, mortgage servicers, and financial institutions in litigation and resolving complex commercial disputes.

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Vernessa started her career as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan. Vernessa investigated and prosecuted all manner of crimes, including identity theft, animal cruelty, and domestic violence. In addition, Vernessa led nearly 100 grand jury presentations, including a 3-month identity theft investigation and subsequent grand jury presentation. She then went on to work as Legal Counsel in the Humane Law Enforcement Department at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. There she drafted search warrants, revised the department’s internal human resource manual, and prepared and presented programs on animal cruelty to special agents, the Center for Animal Care and Control, New York City Police Department’s Executive Development Program, and the New York City Bar Association.

 

Before joining Temple Law, Vernessa was a freelance legal consultant. She worked on a variety of projects, including assisting general counsel of a large medical transportation company, acting as a liaison between in-house counsel and outside counsel, and researching corporate filing compliance at both the state and international levels.

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Vernessa and her husband split their time between Westchester, New York, and Guanacaste, Costa Rica. An avid marathoner and ultrarunner, Vernessa volunteers with Back on My Feet and also teaches English as a second language to local community members.