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.”

Is the role of mentor one you set out to take, or one you happened into?

The most impactful advice I received in my legal career was to recognize twin moral imperatives: give back and pay forward. I acknowledge a debt to those who have invested in my advancement. Some of those individuals are accomplished to such a degree that I will never be able to improve their standing. But for many more, I am now positioned to open doors and equip junior colleagues with the networking and resources they require for success.

Why are mentors so important in the legal profession?

Our profession, like the law itself, is often counter-intuitive. The richness of our craft is discovered in traditions which are not reduced to writing. There is no hornbook or commercial outline from which one can learn to be a compassionate agent of reality or an effective negotiator. To hone those essential skills, attorneys must look to seasoned colleagues who model best practices.

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.

Law is, for many, more than a full-time job. How does one create time for mentorship?

Mentoring, at its finest, is indiscernible from day-to-day engagement. If you consciously conceive of that activity as separable from what you do, it will be a daunting challenge. By contrast, internalizing the action yields a seamless, efficient process. It becomes who you are, not what you do.

How are the business and profession of law changing, and are New Jersey lawyers well-positioned for the future?

Nationwide, the legal profession is experiencing profound cultural change. Since the Great Recession, clients have become more exacting in expectation and more critical in their assessment of value. Simultaneously, recent law school graduates have rejected long- standing ethos and differently define career success. At Seton Hall, we are dynamic in our approach to meeting these evolving market conditions. We inculcate values which begin with recognition of dignity, promulgation of civility, and the embrace of a problem-solving orientation. Strategic partnerships with federal courts throughout the region enable us to prepare New Jersey's next generation of attorneys as both advocates and business partners.