Grewal Names Ex-DEA Attorney First Assistant, Fills Out Leadership Team
“This team of legal experts brings a wealth of experience and keen legal acumen that I will rely on as we confront the challenges that face our state," Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in an announcement.
February 09, 2018 at 05:04 PM
3 minute read
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal on Friday announced the appointment of five members of his leadership team, including three new additions to the office.
Grewal, confirmed last month, named Jennifer Davenport, most recently with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, as his first assistant attorney general; Andrew Bruck, who has been with the U.S. Department of Justice, as executive assistant attorney general; Kevin Jespersen as chief counsel; Melissa Liebermann as chief of staff; and Lora Fong as chief diversity officer.
“This team of legal experts brings a wealth of experience and keen legal acumen that I will rely on as we confront the challenges that face our state,” Grewal said in the announcement.
Davenport has been counsel to the New Jersey field office of the DEA. She previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey and was chief of the general crimes unit, the announcement said. Before that, Davenport was with the Newark office of Latham & Watkins and with a predecessor firm to Squire Patton Boggs.
Bruck previously worked for the DOJ and was an assistant U.S. attorney. He also worked under former Deputy U.S. Attorney Sally Yates, who temporarily served as acting attorney general under President Donald Trump, until her ultimate firing after she refused to defend the executive order barring entry for travelers from certain Muslim-majority countries. Bruck also worked at the New York office of Davis Polk & Wardwell.
Liebermann has been with the Attorney General's Office since 2016. Before that, she was the managing director at K2 Intelligence in New York, the announcement said. Between 2008 and 2015, Liebermann was with the Office of the State Comptroller, where she served first as chief of staff, and later as acting deputy comptroller and acting comptroller. Liebermann earlier worked at Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis in Woodbridge.
Jespersen had been executive assistant to now-former Attorney General Christopher Porrino since last year. He joined the Division of Law as a deputy attorney general, rising to assistant chief of the professional boards prosecution section, the assistant attorney general in charge of the affirmative civil enforcement practice group, and the division's deputy director. Jespersen was in private practice from 1981 to 2004. From 1996 through 2004, he practiced as co-founder and partner of Slattery & Jespersen in Short Hills, which focused on complex civil litigation. Before that, he was a partner at Bridgewater's Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus, where he was a member of the litigation department and health care department. From 1984 through 1989, he was with Morristown's Manger, Kalison, McBride & Webb.
Fong has been the chief diversity officer since the creation of that position in 2016. Before that, she was a partner in private practice at Brown, Moskowitz & Kallen in Summit and also practiced at Greenbaum Rowe and Sills, Cummis & Gross in Newark. Fong also was general counsel and senior vice president at Diversity Inc.; managing counsel at Salesforce.com; and associate general counsel at Fujitsu Consulting.
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