Bar Admission:
New Jersey and the United States District Court for New Jersey, 1996
Biographical Information:
Ms. Jackson is the managing lawyer of DJ Law Group. Ms. Jackson concentrates her practice in areas of entertainment, sports, labor and employment law.
Prior to opening her firm Ms. Jackson was of Counsel to the Law Office of Evelyn Padin for two years. Prior to working with Ms. Padin's office, Ms. Jackson was an associate with the firm of Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer where she was assigned to the Employment Law Team. Prior to working at Wilentz, Ms. Jackson was the Assistant Director of the Equal Employment Division of the New Jersey Department of Corrections. There she assisted in investigations of corrections officers and staff discrimination complaints, provided advice with regard to equal employment issues, as well as provided training to employees about the anti-discrimination policy and procedures. Ms. Jackson completed courses at the Rutgers University Center of Management Development and obtained an Equal Employment Certificate.
Ms. Jackson also worked at the Department of Law and Public Safety Office of the Attorney General as a Deputy Attorney General (DAG) assigned to the Office of State Police Affairs from 2002-2007. This office was created by the 1999 consent decree between the State New Jersey and the United States Department of Justice which addressed the issues of racial profiling. As a DAG she primarily served as the prosecutor in disciplinary proceedings against New Jersey State Troopers. In 2004, Ms. Jackson was promoted to deputy Director of this unit and served as Acting Director from October 2006 to March of 2007.
In 1996 she was a judicial law clerk at the Monmouth Vicinage in Freehold, New Jersey in the criminal division for the Honorable Theodore J. Labrecque, Vincent Hull and Michael D. Farren, J.S.C. She also worked as a legal assistant at the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in 1997 before becoming the first African-American female Assistant Prosecutor to be hired at the Ocean County prosecutor’s Office in its 150-year history. Ms. Jackson left the Prosecutors Office in May of 2000 and became an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Newark assigned to their Labor and Employment Section. During her tenure at the City of Newark, she represented the City in all labor and employment matters including disciplinary hearings, grievance arbitrations, mediations, appeals in the Office of Administrative Law, matters in Superior and Federal Court, as well as matters before the Public Employment Relations Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She also provided advice regarding labor and employment issues to managers in multiple City departments.
Ms. Jackson attended Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg, Florida. While attending Stetson the faulty selected her to be in Who’s Who Among American Universities and Colleges due to her involvement and academic achievement.
Ms. Jackson is very involved in professional bar related activities and was named Young Lawyer of the Year in 2002 by the New Jersey State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. She is a member of several New Jersey State Bar Association committees and sections.
Ms. Jackson has also received many awards and honors throughout her career for professional and community involvement. She received a Women of Distinction Award from the Girl Scout Council of Greater Essex and Hudson Counties in 2005 and a Special Achievement Award from Lakewood NAACP in 2004. She is listed in the Congressional Record by the Honorable Donald M. Payne on February 5, 1998 for professional achievement and in 1998 received the Young Alumnae Achievement Award from Drew University. She has been selected for inclusion in the New Jersey Super Lawyers-Rising Stars Editions since 2006 until present. In 2007, Ms. Jackson also received a Professionalism Lawyer of the Year award from the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism and the New Jersey Women Lawyer Association and the Glenn Cunningham Community Service Award from the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE).
Ms Jackson advises various clients regarding contracts and business issues in the entertainment and sports industry. These clients include athletes, dancers, singers, live stage performers, musicians, television personalities, disc jockeys, as well as actors.
Professional Affiliations:
New Jersey Women Lawyers Association (Immediate Past President); Association of Black Women Lawyers (Past President); New Jersey State Bar Association(member, At Large Trustee, Legislative Committee, Vice-Chair 2008; Election Committee, Vice Chair 2008; Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee, Sub-Committee to review compact, Chair of Sub-Committee to Draft Guidelines for Prosecutorial Appointments, Vice Chair South Jersey 2007; Nominating Committee; Long Range Planning Committee Sponsorship Committee; Public Sector and Government Lawyers Section; Labor and Employment Section, Executive Committee; Women in the Profession Section; Minorities in the Profession Section; Past member Young Lawyers Division Executive Board(YLD), Secretary, Chair of YLD Diversity in the Profession Committee; Centennial Committee; General Council Executive Committee Parliamentarian; Diversity Committee, Past Chair; Pipeline Diversity Task Force, Co-Chair); New Jersey State Bar Foundation (member of Board of Trustees 2004-2005, Tolerance Subcommittee, Public Relations Committee, Respect Newsletter Editorial Advisory Board, Co-Sponsorship Oversight Committee); Supreme Court Committee on Minority Concerns; American Bar Association (member, Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries, Labor and Employment Law Section, Litigation Section, State and Local Government Law Section, Past Young Lawyer Division Delegate); Middlesex County Bar Association, Ocean County Bar Association.
Reported Cases:
Ronald Robert, Jr. vs. State of New Jersey, Division of State Police, 191 N.J. 516 (2007)
Seminars:
Speaker, Hot Tips In Labor and Employment Law, "Progressive Discipline in Civil Service Cases", sponsored by the NJ ICLE and the NJSBA Labor and Employment Section. Materials submitted for seminar, "What's New in Progressive Discipline In Civil Service Cases", written and presented by Desha Jackson.
Articles:
Assisted in preparing, "Minding Your Business:Is Your Life After Work Really Private?" by Maureen Binetti, New Jersey Lawyer Magazine, April 2008.