Early career

Jeffries holds a degree from New York University School of Law

New York University School of Law

The New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University. Established in 1835, the school offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in law, and is located in Greenwich Village, in the New York City borough of Manhattan....

 as well as a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University

Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

 and a Bachelor's in Political Science from Binghamton University

Binghamton University

Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...

 where he graduated with honors for outstanding academic achievement. He served as litigation counsel for a media and entertainment company, and worked in the litigation department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is a law firm headquartered on Sixth Avenue in New York City. The firm has well-noted expertise in its corporate, personal representation, entertainment law and litigation practices, having long been a leader among national litigation firms...

 and as a clerk for Judge Harold Baer, Jr.

Harold Baer, Jr.

Harold Baer, Jr. is a Federal District Judge in the Southern District of New York. He received his BA from Hobart College in 1954, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his LLB from Yale Law School in 1957....

.

Before being elected in 2006, Jeffries was an active participant in community affairs within this Assembly District and had made two previous attempts at winning the district. In 2000, he challenged the incumbent Assemblyman Roger Green

Roger Green

Roger L. Green represented District 57 in the New York State Assembly, which comprises Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Park Slope and Bedford-Stuyvesant. He holds a B.S. from Southern Illinois University....

 in the primary, winning 41% of the vote. In 2002, his residence was redistricted out of the 57th district in what he described as a retaliatory move (a charge denied by Green), as described in the 2010 documentary film Gerrymandering. In the 2002 primary election, he again lost to Green.

State Assembly career

Jeffries defeated Bill Batson by a margin of 64%-25% in September 2006.

During his three years in the legislature he has introduced over 70 bills during his service in legislative session including measures designed to assist residents in foreclosure, protect tenants from landlord harassment, reduce property taxes on homeowners and reform of prison-based redistricting. In response to a series of toy recalls, he introduced bill A02589, which would penalize retailers and wholesalers who knowingly sell to the public hazardous or dangerous toys that have been the subject of a recall. Assemblymember Jeffries also co-sponsored bill A03300, which increased the New York State tax on cigarettes.

He co-sponsored a reform bill to the 421a tax exemption program that requires developers who receive tax breaks to build affordable housing in the Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhoods that he represents. At least fifty percent of the affordable housing must go to people who live in the community. Along with his colleagues in the legislature, Assemblyman Jeffries enacted a state budget that provides an additional one billion dollars in funding for public schools. He recently co-sponsored a bill that would make the public display of a noose with the intent to racially intimidate a felony hate crime. Jeffries also wrote and sponsored the hotly contested house bill A. 11177-A (now law) that eliminated the stop and frisk database used by police forces in New York City. He is a cautious supporter of Bruce Ratner

Bruce Ratner

Bruce Ratner is an American real estate developer and is a current minority owner of the NBA's New Jersey Nets...

's controversial Atlantic Yards

Atlantic Yards

The Atlantic Yards is a mixed-use commercial and residential development project of 16 high-rise buildings, under construction in Prospect Heights, adjacent to Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene in Brooklyn, New York City...

 project,

House of Representatives campaign, 2012

Jeffries will challenge incumbent U.S. Representative

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 Edolphus Towns in 2012.

External links

• Hakeem Jeffries Official website.
• NYS Assembly Member - Hakeem Jeffries - 57th Assembly District
• A Lawyer Eyes Lawmaking A Crain's New York Business profile.
• Hakeem Jeffries Mum on Atlantic Yards