TRENTON, N.J. —Attorney General Stuart Rabner today named Assistant Attorney General Michael A. Shipp to a new position as Counsel to the Attorney General. Shipp, 41, will serve as a top advisor to Rabner on a variety of legal issues and continue to serve as a primary liaison between the attorney general and division directors in the Department of Law and Public Safety.

"This new position reflects the broad responsibilities that Mike has assumed since joining the office of the attorney general," Rabner said. "I have benefited tremendously from Mike’s wise advice and counsel and I believe the department is better run because of his efforts."

"I am honored and humbled by the trust the Attorney General has placed in me to help him lead the department," Shipp said.

Shipp joined the Department of Law and Public Safety in September 2003 as an assistant attorney general in charge of consumer protection. He managed a group of 80 deputy attorneys general handling consumer fraud, professional boards, and securities fraud prosecution.

He joined the Office of the Attorney General last spring to serve as the key liaison between the attorney general and directors of the various divisions that are part of the department, including Consumer Affairs, Civil Rights, Gaming Enforcement, Alcoholic Beverage Control, Highway Traffic Safety, the Racing Commission, and the Juvenile Justice Commission.

Shipp has been an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University Law School’s Summer Institute for Pre-Legal Studies. He clerked for New Jersey Supreme Court Associate Justice James Coleman Jr. from September 1994 to August 1995 and was an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom for eight years.

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