Vanessa Locicero is an associate lawyer practicing exclusively in estate litigation.
She had the privilege of sharpening her advocacy skills at boutique litigation firms as a young lawyer, and then operated her own firm in Collingwood while practicing as a solicitor, prior to joining Barriston LLP in 2026.
Vanessa has experience across a broad array of practice areas, including commercial litigation, catastrophic personal injury, corporate/commercial, contracts, and estate & trust planning. Her litigation background and cross-disciplinary issue-spotting allow her to identify where risk, ambiguity, and conflicts are likely to arise, while her solicitor experience helps support clients to make proactive, thoughtful decisions and implement those strategies before issues escalate.
Vanessa obtained an Honours Bachelor of Arts from Queen’s University in 2011 with a double major in political science and religious studies, and later attended culinary school, where she earned her Culinary Business Management Honours Diploma from Humber College. She then attended the University of Windsor Faculty of Law, where she graduated in 2017.
Throughout law school, Vanessa completed the Canadian Securities Course, volunteered in theatrical productions to raise money for women’s charities, and also competed in moot court competitions. In the Davies Corporate/Commercial Moot Court, she placed second individually among participants from across Canada. She was called to the Bar of the Law Society of Ontario in June 2018.
In 2020, Vanessa completed the Osgoode Certificate in Negotiation, and in 2021, completed the Osgoode Intensive Program in Wills & Estates. In 2025, after seeing up close the toll that an estate dispute can take on families and inspired by her conversations with clients about the challenges of dealing with estate conflicts, she obtained the Osgoode Professional Development Certificate in Estate Litigation.
Vanessa is a Mentor with the South Georgian Bay Business Enterprise Centre, providing support to new entrepreneurs, and also sits as the Secretary on both the Board of Directors for Community Futures South Georgian Bay and the Board of Directors for Home Horizon, a youth transitional housing shelter which helps youth at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
When Vanessa is not hard at work, she enjoys reading, cooking and hosting for family and friends, exploring spirituality, and getting into nature with her husband Matt and their two chocolate labradors.