By Mike Schutt, National Coordinator for GFM’s Law School Ministries
Did you know that InterVarsity ministers to law students? These students play a crucial role in shaping the institutions of our society through their work in the law.
As part of Graduate and Faculty Ministries and in partnership with the Christian Legal Society, our Law School Ministry helps law students prepare spiritually and intellectually for the pressures they currently face on campus and the demands they’ll encounter in the legal profession.
Recently I was reminded of the potential our ministry has to influence the campus, the legal profession, and the world.
Cultivating Civil Discourse
I recently received an email about an academic conference at Pepperdine Law School on “Doing Justice without Doing Harm.” The list of speakers was impressive. But one name in particular caught my attention: Nathan Chapman.
Nathan is a young professor at the University of Georgia Law School. More than that, he’s a strong Christian leader. As a student at Duke, Nathan led the law chapter under the guiding influence of Duke GFM staff Steve Hinkle. He was an especially effective and thoughtful student leader who understood and implemented the four ministry commitments of GFM: spiritual formation, community, evangelism and service, and integration of faith, learning, and practice.
Steve later reminded me that during Nathan’s year as president of the chapter, the Duke Law School student body honored the law fellowship by voting it “the Student Organization Most Likely to Cultivate Civil Discourse” at the law school.
Christians in the legal profession have the unique opportunity and challenge to be cultivators of civil discourse. This is especially important right now in our polarized society.
Now Professor Chapman continues his work of cultural engagement and the integration of faith and law as a professor at an influential law school. And he has the opportunity to shape the legal academy and profession by speaking at national conferences like the one at Pepperdine.
Where Faith and Law Intersect: Sharing the Good News of Justice and Mercy
Another reminder came through an article I read in the King County [Washington State] Bar Bulletin, written by a young lawyer named Alissa Baier. Alissa serves on the legal team at Open Door Legal Services at Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. She uses her legal gifts to serve those in need—sharing the good news of justice and mercy by helping to address a variety of legal needs among the poor and homeless.
Alissa—like Nathan—was a student leader in her law chapter at Seattle University Law School. During those years, she began thinking more deeply about the relationship between her faith and the practice of law, and what it might mean to be a disciple of Jesus as a lawyer. Alissa’s essay in the Bulletin was a heartfelt encouragement to her colleagues at the bar to do the same.
For Alissa, one of the key experiences was the annual attorney/law student retreat:
"I was a 2L law student when I attended our first winter retreat and began my personal analysis into what it meant to be both a Christian and a competent attorney. I had been resistant to the ways that law school molds its students, fearing that giving 100 percent to the process would inevitability result in losing my morality and my identity."
She goes on to describe the disconnect she felt as a law student, having been raised in the church and educated in the law: “neither venue ever mentioned how I might combine these two educations.” It was through gathering in retreat with Christian attorneys and law students that she began to explore the intersection of her legal gifts with her compassion and service for God.
She closed her piece with an eloquent challenge to her colleagues: “Take time to reflect on your faith” and consider “how your beliefs inform and influence your law practice and commitment to social justice.” Read Scripture, she tells them, and “see how God’s words on justice might inspire you.” The essay itself was an inspiration!
Today, Alissa continues her work of cultural engagement by loving the poor, inspiring her colleagues, and, in her new role with the local Christian Legal Society attorney chapter, facilitating retreats for students and lawyers.
God is at Work
It is a blessing and encouragement to see how the Lord is using these two young lawyers, both served by GFM law school staff in law fellowships, to expand their influence in the world, to act justly and love mercy, and to spread the gospel of the kingdom through their legal gifts and talents.
Our work matters, and we should be encouraged by the fact that there are thousands of InterVarsity alumni like Nathan and Alissa around the world loving their neighbors in amazing ways.
Connect Your Students With Law School Ministry
If you have students heading to law school or considering the legal profession, connect them with GFM and our Law School Ministry. If there's not a chapter at the school they're headed to, email us and we will provide more resources.
Edited image of Bible and Scales of Justice courtesy of kelpiesailing on flickr.
