Fordham Law alumnus and current Seton Hall Professor David White ’02 was interviewed for a New Jersey Law Journal article. In it, he discusses the importance of practical learning and mentorship and points to former Fordham Law Dean John D. Feerick ’61 as a mentor who greatly impacted his outlook on being a lawyer.
David White is director of the Seton Hall University School of Law Conflict Management Program and professor of legal practice at the school. After joining the school in 2010, White helped launch: the Seton Hall Consumer Arbitration Practicum in tandem with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office; a securities arbitration clinic with federal funding; and the Seton Hall Representation in Mediation Practicum in the Southern District of New York which, more recently, was replicated in the District of New Jersey’s Trenton and Newark vicinages. A colleague said, “To a growing generation of Seton Hall lawyers, Prof. White is both innovator and mentor whose passionate commitment to justice has positively affected lives throughout the region.”
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Good mentors often have learned from good examples. Who are some people who have mentored you?I credit a trio of colleagues for their encouragement to become a full-time law professor. As a student, I observed the peerless example of constitutional law scholar and legendary Fordham Law Dean John D. Feerick, who taught me that integrity is the touchstone of our profession. At a very nascent phase of my private practice, Dean Feerick invited me to co- instruct International Conflict Resolution in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Thereafter, Prof. Lela P. Love welcomed me to the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution. Prof. Love, one of the brightest stars in the conflict-management firmament, continues to demonstrate dogged determination. Georgetown University Law Center Dean William M. Treanor has been a staunch supporter from our days together at Fordham through my appointment to the Georgetown adjunct faculty. His humility is a constant reminder that an attorney’s best work is often unheralded by fanfare.