White, James P.

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John D. Feerick:  A Man for All Seasons

Fordham University School of Law

Fordham Law Review Volume 70 Issue 6 Article 14 2002 John D. Feerick: A Man for All Seasons James P. White Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation James P. White, John D. Feerick: A Man for All Seasons, 70 Fordham L. Rev. 2197 (2002). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol70/iss6/14 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Law Review by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact tmelnick@law.fordham.edu. John D. Feerick: A Man for All Seasons Cover Page Footnote Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis, Indiana, and former ABA Consultant on Legal Education. This article is available in Fordham Law Review: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol70/iss6/14 JOHN D. FEERICK: A MAN FOR ALL SEASONSJames P. White*I am honored to contribute to this dedication issue of the FordhamLaw Review in honor of Dean John D. Feerick. Dean Feerick is adear friend who has made outstanding contributions to the legalprofession, legal education, and the public good. I have beenprivileged to be associated with Dean Feerick for over twenty years.Dean Feerick represents that very special individual in our legalsystem. He is a man of thought and creativity, which he is able toconvey without bravado or belittlement of others. He is a truegentleman who advances his agendas purposefully but sensitively. Heis a kind and compassionate individual. Bluster and confrontation arenot in his nature. The art of gentle persuasion is. When John Feerickspeaks the entire legal education community listens.My initial contact with Dean Feerick was not brought about by themost auspicious of circumstances. In 1979-80 the American BarAssociation's Accreditation Committee had some serious concernsabout Fordham Law School. These concerns related to the needs ofthe School and the paucity of resources made available to the Schoolby the Fordham central administration. The then president ofFordham University and the Accreditation Committee of theAmerican Bar Association had become very confrontational on thisissue. The president of Fordham asked a lawyer member of theFordham University Board of Trustees to come to Fordham and meetwith the ABA Consultant on Legal Education. The trustee was JohnFeerick. John Feerick and I had a non-confrontational meeting andagreed that the Fordham Law School had certain needs, which shouldbe supported by the central administration so that the Law Schoolcould meet both its challenges and its aspirations. Thus began overtwenty years of association, collaboration and friendship.I was familiar with John Feerick because of his instrumental workas one of the authors of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the UnitedStates Constitution providing for presidential successions, his seminalwork, From Falling Hands: The Story of Presidential Succession, hispartnership in Shadden, Arps, and his activities in the Association ofthe Bar of the City of New York and the American Bar Association.* Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis, Indiana, andformer ABA Consultant on Legal Education.2197Fq.DIAM LAW REVIEWAs a result of our initial meeting, I asked him to undertake severalactivities in the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions tothe Bar. He has undertaken a number of activities on behalf of theSection, always willingly, even though the time might be inconvenient,and he always achieved great success.The leadership of the Section and I were delighted when thePresident and Trustees of Fordham Law School named him dean in1982. Thus began a remarkable record of progress and success whereFordham Law School flourished under his leadership, and becameone of America's preeminent law schools. And, this leadership wasaccomplished in the Feerick manner: quiet and effective.One of his first initiatives as dean was to implement a Board ofVisitors for the Fordham Law School. As a result of this activity theSection called upon him in 1985 to chair its first workshop relating toBoards of Visitors entitled The Challenges and Responsibilities of aLaw School Board of Visitors. In opening the program Dean Feericknoted that only half of all law schools had a Board of Visitors, many ofwhich only had limited functions, and he emphasized that such Boardsare valuable in assisting law schools with their missions. Dean Feerickexplained that his vision for the workshop was to provide informationto law school deans on how to establish and utilize a Board ofVisitors. 1Participating in that program was Theodore St. Antoine, the formerdean of the University of Michigan Law School; Robert Bruce,President of Widener University; Henry Miller, President of the NewYork State Bar Association and myself. As I observed in my closingremarks:Justice, the topic upon which Dennis Archer eloquently spokethis morning, justice for all, the American ideal, is something wehave not achieved, and law school[s] can go far in realization ofjustice for all. There are many people who should be going to lawschool, who could go to law school, who upon graduation would goout and serve the general public. We know there are manymembers of the American public who are not adequately served bythe legal profession. I believe visiting committees are important andhelpful for law schools, and I would urge law schools that have notyet created such a committee, to give careful consideration to thecreation of one.Dean John Feerick is chairing a committee of the Section ofLegal Education on the Boards of Visitors. As Dean Feerickreported, about three years ago, my office sent out a survey andcollected and distributed information about visiting committees. Weare about ready to distribute another survey to report current1. ABA Section of Legal Educ. And Admissions to the Bar, ABA, TheChallenges and Responsibilities of a Law School Board of Visitors 1 (1985).2198 [Vol. 70A MAN FOR ALL SEASONSinformation about boards of visitors. Much of the information youheard presented here today will be reported in that survey.3As a result of the ensuing efforts of Dean Feerick and his committeealmost every law school today has an effective functioning visitingcommittee.In June, 1994, the Council of the Section of Legal Education andAdmissions to the Bar created the Commission to Review theSubstance and Process of the American Bar Association'sAccreditation of American Law Schools, to conduct a thorough,independent review of specific identified areas covering all aspects oflaw school accreditation. This Commission chaired by Justice RosalieE. Wahl of the Minnesota Supreme Court, a former chair of both theCouncil and Accreditation Committee was composed of academics,practicing lawyers, public members and judges. A key member wasDean Feerick, who chaired one of the two Commissionsubcommittees, one that focused on the accreditation Standards,including the content of the existing Standards and the processes bywhich the Standards and their Interpretations are adopted. The finalrecommendations of the Committee included the followingrecommendations emanating from Dean Feerick's subcommittee,reflecting his commitment to ethical responsibility, academicexcellence and public service.Recommendations relating to the content of the AccreditationStandards(1) The Standards should be amended to add the followingpreamble:The Standards for the Approval of Law Schools by the AmericanBar Association should be and are designed, developed, andimplemented for the purpose of advancing the basic minimal goal oflaw school education. That minimal goal is to ensure that every lawschool graduate:(a) Understands his or her ethical responsibilities as arepresentative of clients, officers of the legal system, and a publiccitizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice.(b) Has mastered a core curriculum through which he or she:(i) Understands the theory, philosophy, development andramifications of law as well as its institutions;(ii) Develops analytical and critical legal thinking skills, oraland written communication skills, and obtains familiarity withlegal research; and2. Id at 19.2002] 2199FORDHAM LAW REVIEW(iii) Knows the fundamental principles of public and privatelaw.(c) Understands that law is a public profession requiring theperformance of pro bono publico legal services.3The report of the Commission came at a difficult time for theaccreditation process. The American Bar Association had been suedby a law school denied accreditation, which had prompted a civilinvestigation by the Anti-Trust Division of the United StatesDepartment of Justice. The tensions between the Section, includingthe deans of ABA approved law schools, and certain members of theABA House of Delegates and the Board of Governors were at abreaking point. Dean Feerick's careful, calming influence as amember of the Wahl Commission and as a leader in the legalprofession was critical in the amelioration of these tensions.In 1996 Dean Feerick was appointed to a two-year term aschairperson of the Section's Standards Review Committee. This isone of the two most important Section committees, the other beingthe Accreditation Committee. Under Dean Feerick's leadership theCommittee undertook a total review of the Standards for Approval ofLaw Schools and their Interpretations. Numerous public hearings andrequests for comment took place. I particularly remember oneoccasion when I asked Dean Feerick to leave a family gathering inVermont to come to Washington to conduct a public hearing. In hisusual unselfish and caring way, he made the trek to Washington, D.C.to conduct the public hearing at which, to my chagrin, no oneappeared. Yet, Dean Feerick with his usual aplomb said it wasimportant that it took place. He then went back to the familygathering. This unselfish, caring devotion to duty exemplifies theJohn D. Feerick whom we honor in this law review issue.I have commented on Dean Feerick's activities in legal educationand the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.I have not discussed his contribution as President of the Associationof the Bar of the City of New York or his many initiatives asFordham's dean, such as the Stein Center for Legal Ethics, theFordham Public Service Resources Center, the Joseph CrowleyInternational Human Rights Program, the Fordham LL.M. Programfor Foreign Lawyers, the highly successful Fordham annualconferences on international anti-trust and intellectual property, orindeed, Fordham's improvements in physical facilities, technology andclinical legal education. He is well known for his tolerance, hisopenness to new approaches and ideas, and his efforts to diversify thefaculty and student body. New courses, new centers, new initiatives3. ABA Section of Legal Educ. And Admissions to the Bar, ABA, Report of theCommission to Review the Substance and Process of the American Bar Association'sAccreditation of American Law Schools 51 (1995).2200 [Vol. 70A MAN FOR ALL SEASONShave been the hallmark of his deanship, all accomplished in his gentleform of leadership. While I leave these to his Fordham colleagues, Imust comment on his influence at Fordham.Fordham Law School has a commitment to values, toprofessionalism for caring. It is a law school whose faculty instills inits future graduates a sense of professionalism, public responsibilityand public service. Its graduates are inculcated with the belief thatlaw is a profession, not a business, and that the goals of justice, honor,and human decency must be the hallmark of its graduates.Twenty years in the life of a law school is a short time in the span oflegal education, but has been a period of remarkable progress in thelife of Fordham Law School. Dean Feerick's leadership made it allhappen.In a Symposium entitled Leadership in Legal Education SymposiumII, in the Toledo Law Review, Dean Feerick concludes his article bystating:[A] deanship at an United States law school is a unique experience.It is not a place for someone looking to relax or paddle in calmwaters. It is demanding beyond belief but the rewards are many,making it an interesting challenging and even exciting way to livepart of your life as a lawyer!4Compassion, hope and faith are necessary elements to the lawyer'sbehavior in an ethical and professional manner. John Feerickpossesses these elements in abundance. He is truly a man for allseasons. This tribute is an acknowledgement of gratitude, respect andadmiration for his remarkable services and contributions to Fordham,the legal profession and legal education, but most especially for hissupport and warm friendship for so many years.4. John D. Feerick, A Few Reflections on a Long Deanship, 33 Toledo L Rev.25,29 (2001).2002] 2201Notes & Observations

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John D. Feerick: A Man for All Seasons

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