Profile

Michelle Jackson, Esq.

Thrive Scholars

Contact Details

Thrive Scholars

Bio

Michelle is the Director of Pathway & Recruitment Innovations at Diversity Lab, an incubator for innovative ideas and solutions that boost diversity and inclusion in law. She is part of a team developing groundbreaking DEI initiatives for law firms and corporate legal departments.

Prior to joining Diversity Lab, Michelle was Director of Alumni Advising in the Career Strategy Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. In that role, she provided career counseling to alumni at all stages of their careers through the design, execution, and maintenance of lifelong career-related services and resources.

Michelle also served the Director of Diversity Education & Outreach at Northwestern Law, where she developed and managed programs and activities related to the Law School's commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity. This included counseling students, planning and executing events and initiatives, participating in recruitment efforts, and engaging faculty, staff, and alumni around issues related to diversity.

Formerly, she served as Executive Assistant to the Chancellor, Title IX Coordinator, and Disability Coordinator at Southern University Law Center (SULC). This position included serving as primary policy researcher for the Chancellor, being the primary point of contact for all Title IX related issues, and assessing, counseling, and administering accommodation services to students with disabilities. Prior to joining the Chancellor’s executive staff, she spent eight years as the Director of Career Services. In her capacity as director, she was responsible for setting career counseling policies and procedures, establishing relationships that produced career opportunities for students and alumni, providing career counseling, presenting workshops, seminars, and training sessions to students, and planning, operating, and managing job fairs. She was also an adjunct professor at SULC, where she taught Conflict of Laws, Education Law, Legal Research, and Real Estate Transactions.

Michelle has held many roles in NALP, most recently as a member of the Governance Advisory Work Group and a Vice Chair of the DEI Section. She served as a NALP's 2018-2020 Vice President of Member Services and Education. She was a Vice Chair of the 2018 Conference Planning Team and a Vice Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Section in 2017-2018. She previously served as a member of the 2015-2017 NALP Board of Directors, and also served on the 2015-2020 Long Term Strategic Plan Committee and the 2012-2014 Regional Resource Council.

She received her B.A. in English, with distinction, from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.