John D. Feerick heads up Fordham Law School's Center for Social Justice and Dispute Resolution, which provides students with hands-on clinical programs devoted to issues of poverty. He is also the Chairman of the NYS Commission on Public Integrity. Responding to a State Department invitation, Feerick was awarded a government grant to gather 22 Northern Irish community leaders, 11 Catholic and 11 Protestant, and teach them mediation skills, working on creating peace from the street level up.

In 1999, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the American Irish Historical Society for his work. A graduate of the St. Angela Merici elementary school in the South Bronx, Feerick received his undergraduate degree from Fordham University and graduated from Fordham Law School in 1961. He practiced at the New York law firm of Skadden Arps for 21 years, and went on to serve as Dean of Fordham Law for 20 years.

Feerick, whose parents were both natives of County Mayo but met in New York, is married with six children and eleven grandchildren. He is a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in New York.

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