TRENTON – Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal today announced the membership of his executive leadership team including Jennifer Davenport as First Assistant Attorney General, Andrew Bruck 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 - whether they be tackling addiction, strengthening police-community relations, reducing violent crime, or taking on complex state and federal legal issues,” said Attorney General Grewal. “I am pleased that these talented and dedicated individuals have chosen to join me and Governor Murphy to make New Jersey fair and just for all residents.”
Jennifer Davenport joins OAG from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), where she served as Division Counsel to the New Jersey Field Division. She spent seven years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, where she served as Chief of the General Crimes Unit. Before becoming a prosecutor, Ms. Davenport worked as a litigation associate in the Newark offices of Latham & Watkins and Patton Boggs and clerked for Chief Judge John W. Bissell of the U.S. District Court in Trenton. She graduated from DeSales University and Seton Hall University School of Law. Before and during law school, Ms. Davenport worked as an intelligence analyst at the DEA.
Andrew Bruck spent five years at the U.S. Department of Justice. During that time, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, as well as several roles in the office of Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, including Senior Counsel, Deputy Chief of Staff, and Acting Chief of Staff. Before joining DOJ, Mr. Bruck worked as a litigation associate in the New York office of Davis Polk & Wardwell and clerked for Chief Justice Stuart Rabner of the New Jersey Supreme Court. He graduated from Princeton University and Stanford Law School.
Melissa Liebermann joined OAG in October 2016, serving as Counsel to the Attorney General. Before that, she served as a Managing Director at K2 Intelligence in New York. Between 2008 and 2015, Ms. Liebermann played a central role in the creation and development of the Office of the State Comptroller, where she served as the office’s first Chief of Staff and later served as Deputy State Comptroller and Acting State Comptroller. Earlier in her career, Ms. Liebermann worked in the Office of Counsel to Governor Jon Corzine and Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis in Woodbridge. After clerking for Judge Philip Carchman of the New Jersey Appellate Division, she began her legal career as a Deputy Attorney General in the Division of Law. She graduated from Tufts University and Rutgers University School of Law in Newark.
Kevin Jespersen joined the Office of the Attorney General in 2016, serving as Chief Counsel and later Executive Assistant Attorney General. In 2004, 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. Mr. Jespersen is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney and has held that designation since 1997. He has handled hundreds of cases throughout his career, and has tried to verdict more than 40 cases, including matters before the state and federal courts in New Jersey and New Jersey administrative agencies. He has argued more than 40 appeals, including in the New Jersey Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Between 1981 and 2004, Mr. Jespersen worked in private practice, including at Slattery & Jespersen, which he co-founded in 1996. He graduated from Rutgers University and the New York University School of Law.
Lora Fong has served as the Chief Diversity Officer for the department since the creation of that role in 2016. Prior to joining the Office of the Attorney General, she was a partner in private practice at Brown, Moskowitz & Kallen in Summit and also practiced at Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis in Woodbridge, and at Sills, Cummis & Gross in Newark. She has extensive corporate counsel experience, having served as General Counsel and Senior Vice President at Diversity Inc. as Managing Counsel at Salesforce.com, and as Associate General Counsel at Fujitsu Consulting. Ms. Fong served Rutgers University as a member of its Board of Governors, and prior to that on its Board of Trustees, and served as a Trustee of the New Jersey State Bar Association for 6 years. Currently, she serves on the New Jersey State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and on the Advisory Board to the Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey. She is also a member of the Diversity Committees of the New Jersey State Bar Association and the New Jersey Women’s Lawyers Association. She graduated from Rutgers University, Douglass College, and Rutgers University School of Law in Newark.
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