JOHN D. FEERICK

JOHN D. Feerick is the holder of the Sidney Norris Chair in Public Service at Fordham University School of Law in New York. He is the founder of the law school’s Center for Social Justice which provides students with opportunities to deal with issues of poverty, and he teaches courses on the Constitution, legal ethics and conflict resolution.

Feerick helped with the drafting of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. He received awards from the American Bar Association for advancing conflict resolution in education and in practice nationwide, and for advancing cooperation among lawyers, law faculties and bar associations. He practiced at Skadden,Arps,Slate,Meagher&Flomfor21years prior to becoming dean of Fordham Law School in 1982. He served as dean for 20 years.

Feerick has chaired New York State commissions on Government Integrity and PromotingConfidenceintheJudiciary,andcurrently is co-chair of the Chief Judge’s Attorney Emeritus Council. He has served as an arbitrator of disputes for both the National Football League and the National Basketball Association.

In 1999, Feerick was awarded the gold medal of the American Irish Historical Society, its highest honor. In 2010, he received the Flax Trust Award for his work on peacemaking in Northern Ireland. In 2014, he served as U.S. chair of the successful campaign for the Kylemore Abbey Education Center in Co. Galway and currently assists Kylemore in establishing its first ever monastery.

In 2017 Feerick was recognized by the American Bar Association with its highest award, the ABA Medal, in recognition of his “unimpeachable integrity, ethics and leadership.” In 2017, Feerick received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irish Legal 100. In 2018, he received the inaugural Belfast Homecoming Ambassador Medal.

In 2022 Feerick received three special awards for his work in Ireland: An honorary doctorate from University College Dublin; the Mayo City Council first Diaspora Award: and the Kylemore Abbey’s Benedictine Sisters Service Award.

Feerick received a BS from Fordham University and a LL.B. from Fordham University School of Law.

Feerick, whose parents were both natives of Co. Mayo but met in New York, is married with six children and 11 grandchildren. He and his wife Emalie have been married for 60 years.

He is a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in New York and the Brehon Law Society of New York City. In 2020 Feerick published his memoir, That Further Shore: A Memoir of Irish Roots and American Promise (Fordham University Press) which is available on Amazon.