Newark, NJ.- NJ LEEP (New Jersey Law and Education Empowerment Project), Seton Hall University School of Law and the City of Newark Law Department have joined forces to participate in Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s forward thinking legal internship initiative.

The internship initiative was announced in September after a meeting hosted by McCarter & English, LLP for leaders of Newark’s most prestigious law firms and dynamic organizations in both the public and private sectors.

NJ LEEP is a “pipeline diversity” program that gives urban youth the training and support they need to succeed academically, and exposes them to the possibilities of a career in law. Under the internship initiative, NJ LEEP will provide internships at law firms and major corporations in the summer of 2008 for Newark students in its sophomore college bound After School Program.

Internship partners include: LeClairRyan, Gibbons, Sills Cummis and Gross PC, Prudential Financial and PSEG. NJ LEEP’s internship program is cosponsored by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and made possible with funding from the IOLTA Fund of the Bar of New Jersey.

NJ LEEP’s Executive Director, Craig Livermore, as part of this collaborative effort, also sits on the Advisory Board for the Newark Public Schools Law and Public Safety Programs. This board is chaired by Marvin Adames, the Newark Law Department’s Chief Prosecutor. Livermore will help the board in developing the structure for a sustainable city-wide legal internship program, and in placing students in internship positions, thus, facilitating the effort to provide educational empowerment and opportunity to Newark’s youth.

As part of its foundational philosophy, NJ LEEP is dedicated to building partnerships to leverage potential for wide-ranging effective programming, and to support the efforts of those seeking transformative change. NJ LEEP and the City of Newark are collaborating on expanding the possibilities for Newark youth to be exposed to the possibilities of professional life, and to build in them the self-confidence and positive outlook that will allow them to pursue and achieve academic goals. In this collaboration, many additional partners are needed to offer opportunities to the students who wish to pursue them. Law firms, corporate legal departments, and prosecutor’s offices can all be a part of this collaborative effort to offer positive alternatives to the city’s youth. Interested entities can reach Craig Livermore, NJ LEEP’s Executive Director, at (973) 242-0951 to gain more information.

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The only private law school in New Jersey, Seton Hall University School of Law was founded in 1951, and is located in the city of Newark. Seton Hall Law School offers both day and evening programs leading to the Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Master of Science in Jurisprudence (M.S.J.) degrees. For more information on Seton Hall Law School, visit law.shu.edu.