Shavar Jeffries

Background

Jeffries grew up in the South Ward of Newark. He lost his mother to violence and was raised by his grandmother, a public school teacher. He first attended Newark Public Schools and later received a scholarship to attend Seton Hall Preparatory School in West Orange. Jeffries obtained his bachelor's degree from Duke University in 1996. After graduating he attended Columbia Law School where he served as managing editor of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review and clerked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. He received his Juris Doctor in 1999. Jeffries lives in the South Ward with his wife and their two children.

Career

After law school, Jeffries clerked for Judge Nathaniel R. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals. He then worked as an associate with Wilmer Cutler & Pickering. Since 2001, Shavar has been counsel at Gibbons P.C., a firm based at the Gateway Center in Newark.

Jeffries has been an associate professor at the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School since 2004. In 2008-2010, he took a leave of absence to serve as Assistant Attorney General and Counsel to New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram and led several departments, including the Juvenile Justice Commission and the Civil Rights Division.

In April 2010, Jeffries was elected to the Newark Public Schools Advisory Board. He became a partner at Lowenstein Sandler in August 2014. In September 2015 he became the president of Democrats for Education Reform which promotes more charter schools, school funding and stricter teacher evaluations to revamp public education.

Mayoral candidacy

Jeffries announced his election bid on May 20, 2013. Jeffries was relatively known in Newark, where typically one runs first for council and then for mayor. Jeffries introduced a public safety plan in October 2013 As of January 2014, Jeffries had raised the most campaign financing of the candidates.

The election took place May 13, 2014 and Jeffries was defeated by Municipal Council of Newark Council Member Ras Baraka. Other potential candidates, Council Members Anibal Ramos, Jr. and Darrin S. Sharif, had earlier dropped out of the race.

Jeffries' eight-member council slate includes incumbents East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador, North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos, Jr. and At-large Councilman Carlos Gonzalez and candidates Brian Logan (South Ward). Kevin Waters (West Ward) and Andre Speight (Central Ward). Lynda Lloyd (At-large), and former Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo (At-large).

In February he received an endorsement of William D. Payne and March from Donald Payne, Jr., both of whom who are part a long time Newark political dynasty. He has also been endorsed by the Teamsters, State Senator Teresa Ruiz and Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor-Marin. Jeffries received the endorsements of Board of Chosen Freeholders President Blonnie Watson, Freeholder Vice-President Patricia Sebold and Freeholder D. Bilal Beasley. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York's 8th congressional district in Brooklyn and Queens with roots in Newark, has also endorsed Jeffries. In May he received the endorsement of Eva Longoria. Jeffries was endorsed by the The Star-Ledger.

Jeffries conceded the race to Baraka at the Golden Dome Athletic Center on election night.

Scholarship

In 2015 Jeffries has established the Donna Johnson Memorial Scholarship to support the educational development of a young person who has experienced the loss of a parent, guardian, or loved one because of domestic violence, or whose life has otherwise been touched by violence against women.