Judge Jordan has had a distinguished career at the bar as well as on the bench.  After receiving a B.A. from Brigham Young University in 1981, and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1984, he served as a law clerk to District Judge James L. Latchum on the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.  Subsequently, he spent a number of years in private practice at a Wilmington law firm, focused on intellectual property, as well as corporate and commercial litigation.  He also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, including as chief of the Civil Division in that office in 1991 and 1992.

Judge Jordan was appointed and confirmed to serve as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware in 2002, a position in which he served until 2006.  At that time, he was appointed and confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  He has served on the Board of the Federal Judicial Center and has for many years been an adjunct professor at both Vanderbilt Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.  Indeed, he taught at Penn last evening before coming up to New York to join us at Fordham for this very special day.  We have taken full advantage of his presence:  Judge Jordan has met with representatives of four student groups, co-taught a Corporations class, will co-teach an Evidence class this evening, and has met informally with a number of faculty members.  And now, we are delighted to have him present his lecture on the timely and important topic of civil discourse.