Public Program: The Perkins Bass Lecture - "Public Service is Not for the Faint of Heart: Hard Lessons" with John Broderick

Please join us for John Broderick's talk, "Public Service Is Not for the Faint of Heart: Hard Lessons," in Rockefeller 003 at 4:30 pm on October 15, 2014.

A former Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, the first Warren B. Rudman chairman at UNH Law, and a frequent speaker on the need to improve and modernize our judicial system, John T. Broderick has dedicated almost his entire life to public service. In fact, he became nationally known for reexamining the way the court system works and redesigning it to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Although he has had a long and successful career, Broderick believes that a career in public service is not necessarily an easy one. Having faced challenges and having learned hard lessons from his experiences, Broderick will be the first to admit the realities of a pursuing a career in public service.

In this program, John Broderick will discuss his early interest in public service and the forces that shaped that interest as it matured. He will also speak publicly for the first time about the New Hampshire Supreme Court Impeachment that consumed the Court and his reflections on his personal and professional life and the state of New Hampshire in 2000.

John T. Broderick, Jr., was named the first Warren B. Rudman chairman at UNH Law and executive director of its Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership, and Public Policy. He became the fifth dean of the University of New Hampshire School of Law from 2011 to 2014. Prior to the UNH School of Law appointment, Broderick served on the New Hampshire Supreme Court for 15 years. During his tenure as Chief Justice, he was the administrative head of all the state's courts. Broderick was also appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Board of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), on which he served for 10 years. Broderick is the recipient of several honorary degrees, is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Hampshire Business & Industry Association. He was President of the New Hampshire Bar Association from 1990 to 1991.

Broderick has also served as a litigation attorney and was a founding shareholder of Broderick & Dean, Professional Association (formerly Merrill & Broderick). He has also taught at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and the College of the Holy Cross.