of State Police Affairs.
This office was created by the 1999 consent decree between the State of New Jersey and United States Justice Department of Justice and works to assist with the implementation of the decree. The decree was formed to address the issue 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. As Acting Director Ms. Jackson testified at a public hearing in October 2006 before the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Police Standards. She also argued her first case before the New Jersey Supreme Court and received a unanimously decision in favor of her client.
Ms. Jackson also worked for the Department of Corrections as the Assistant Director of the Equal Employment Division. Here she assisted in investigations of corrections officers discrimination complaints, provided advice with regard to equal employment issues, completed determination letters for the commissioner of corrections regarding those complaints and assisted in managing the division.
In 2007, Ms. Jackson was an associate at the law firm of Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer. She was assigned to the Employment Law team.
Starting in 2009 Ms. Jackson worked for the Department of Corrections as an Assistant Director. She was the ADA Coordinator, head of the Construction
Unit and assigned to the Office of Legal and Regulatory Affairs during her tenure. She is also practices law at Desha Jackson Law Group, focusing in the areas of entertainment and employment law and is CEO of DLJ Sports and Entertainment Connection, an entertainment and sports consulting group. Ms Jackson is also the program manager for her own non-profit DLJ Give to Live Community Foundation and the founder of Jersey City Fashion Week.
Currently, in 2016, Ms. Jackson is now a Special Assistant to the Newark Public Safety Director. In this capacity she will assist with all legal issues regarding the department, manage internal affairs and help implement the consent degree between City of Newark and the Justice Department.
Ms. Jackson has received many awards and honors throughout her career. Recently, she was named a “Rising Star” under 40 in the August 2006 - 2009 editions of the New Jersey Super Lawyers magazine. In 2007 she also received a Professional Lawyer of the Year award from the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism and the New Jersey Women Lawyer Association.
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