Name:		Mr. Shavar Jeffries
		Month:		October 2006
		Schools:		Duke University, BA 1996 Columbia University, JD 1999
		Organization:		Seton Hall University School of Law
		Title:		Associate Professor of Law

Shavar D. Jeffries, an Associate Professor of Law at Seton Hall Law School, received his B.A. in History from Duke University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, Paul Robeson Scholar, Jane Marks Murphy Prize recipient, Mitsubishi International Fellow, and Managing Editor of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. After law school, Shavar clerked for the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Shavar subsequently worked as an associate with the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, where, among other matters, he defended the University of Michigan in affirmative-action litigation challenging its undergraduate and law-school admissions policies. Upon leaving Wilmer Cutler, Shavar joined the law firm of Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C, as a John J. Gibbons Fellow in Public Interest and Constitutional Litigation. As a Gibbons Fellow, Shavar engaged in a wide-range of public-interest advocacy, including the representation of newspapers seeking access to closed, post-9/11 immigration hearings and the NAACP in challenging the State of New Jersey's legislative apportionment plan. The firm named Shavar Deputy Director of the Gibbons Fellowship in 2003, and thereafter named him Of Counsel.

Shavar joined the Seton Hall Law School faculty in Summer 2004. Shavar teaches a Civil Litigation Clinic course, as well as Criminal Law. Through the Civil Litigation Clinic, Shavar and his students engage in a wide array of public-interest litigation, focusing primarily on impact advocacy seeking to empower urban parents to possess greater agency over the education of their children. Specifically, among other matters, the Clinic represents several thousand children in a lawsuit against the Newark Public Schools and the State of New Jersey seeking to enforce compliance with special-education services timelines; represents a parent challenging retaliation by school officials in response to her speech critical of the school's academic performance; and represents parents seeking to enforce the notice, supplemental-educational-services, and transfer provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. For his public-interest advocacy, Shavar has received numerous awards, including recently being named a "Rising Star" by New Jersey Super Lawyers magazine.

Shavar is also heavily involved in the Newark community, serving as Board President both of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Newark, as well as the TEAM Academy Charter School. Among other honors for his public service, The Star Ledger recognized Shavar's community service by naming him a "Person Who Made a Difference in New Jersey" in 2005.

Shavar, who was raised in Newark and continues to live there, is married to Tenagne Jeffries. Shavar and Tenagne have a 20-month old son, Kaleb, and are expecting another child in August.