JOHN Dearie - PRIOR to establishing his private practice, which now includes five offices in New York and "mobile law offices" that travel to meet clients unable to travel, John Dearie served as New York State assemblyman from the Bronx from 1973 to 2002.
Dearie led the legislative drive achieving passage of the MacBride Principles, a set of fair employment guidelines for Northern Ireland, through the New York State Legislature in 1986, in the teeth of a well organized opposition campaign. Dearie’s tactic of targeting key members of the State Senate paid off, as did the broad Irish grassroots lobbying campaign he organized.
Dearie organized the Irish American Presidential Forums in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2008 seeking candidates’ responses to an Irish American issues agenda. Bill Clinton’s strong commitment to appoint an American special peace envoy to Northern Ireland, made during the 1992 forum, later selecting former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, the central figure leading to the Good Friday Agreement, are widely viewed as significant contributions to the peace process.
In the 2008 presidential campaign, Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator John McCain, the first Republican candidate to participate in the forum, addressed Irish leaders in New York City and Scranton, Pennsylvania respectively.
Dearie was born and raised in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame, having received a full basketball scholarship. He went on to earn an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate Business School at Northwestern University, and graduated from New York University School of Law.
He and his wife Kitty have two sons, John Patrick, 26 and Michael Brendan, 25.

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