ERISA Lawyer Focused on Diversity
As an adviser to some of the world’s most-recognized companies, Vanessa Scott is passionate about helping both clients and diverse attorneys achieve their goals.
Scott is a partner in Sutherland Asbill & Brennan’s Washington, DC, Tax Practice Group, where she specializes in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). With more than 15 years of legal experience, Scott has worked with and counseled many of the nation’s leading elected officials and companies. She testifies before Congress and provides educational briefings to Capitol Hill staff on complex issues.
Known for her industry intelligence and business savvy, her clients include global insurers, airlines, and financial services organizations. She’s also a sought after speaker on complex issues relating to both the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Department of Labor’s revised definition of investment advice fiduciary.
In addition to her legal practice, Scott is the firm’s chief diversity and inclusion officer. Her colleagues say she inspires others by building transformative relationships and working to increase diversity through the hiring process. She also leads Sutherland’s cross-office Diversity and Inclusion Committee, which develops strategic partnerships with the firms’ clients to help increase diversity throughout the profession.
Scott is a Nolan Fellow of the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation and a former Chair of the Section’s Diversity Committee, where she helped develop a new program aimed at increasing diverse attorney engagement. Among her numerous activities, she is an annual speaker on compensation issues for the national Corporate Counsel Women of Color Conference and she also serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
Scott holds an A.B. from Duke University, a LL.M. with distinction from Georgetown University Law Center and a law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School.
