The John F. Sonnett Memorial Lectures at Fordham University School of Law ─ A Half-century of Advocacy and Judicial Perspectives

This book represents the distinguished Sonnett lecture series sponsored by Fordham's Law School that has taken place for the last 45 years. In this collection, U.S. Supreme Court Justices, a Lord Chancellor of England, three Chief Justices of Ireland, a Chief Justice of South Africa, a President of the Supreme Court of Israel, and other leading judges and lawyers examine common law-based legal systems and underlying principles. The lectures encourage attorneys and society to improve the training of lawyers, respect the independence of the judiciary, place ethics at the forefront, question the efficacy of the criminal justice system, and explore the complex philosophical issues facing the judiciary.

Taken as a whole, these lectures are a prescription for improvements and innovations throughout the legal system. The lectures were delivered by judges and lawyers who were involved in many of the most significant cases of the last half-century that strengthened individual rights and promoted access to justice. Each finds its deepest meaning in advancing the theme of Fordham Law School: "In the Service of Others."

Dennis J. Kenny is a 1961 graduate of Fordham University School of Law and was Vice President of and General Counsel at Transamerica Leasing, Inc. He has been a generous supporter of the law school and its Feerick Center for Social Justice.

Joel E. Davison is a 1975 graduate of Fordham University School of Law and a former Deputy General Counsel of Paine Webber Inc. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at the law school and does pro bono projects for several of the Feerick Center projects.

John D. Feerick is Professor and former Dean of Fordham Law School. In 1964 he was a member of the American Bar Association Conference on Presidential Inability and Vice Presidential Vacancy, the recommendations of which helped shape the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He served from 1987 to 1990 as Chairman of the New York State Commission on Government Integrity, the collected reports of which were published by Fordham University Press as Government Ethics Reform in the 1990s (1991).