Someone joked several years ago that the term 'Christian Lawyer' was an oxymoron. I love lawyer jokes and certainly can understand this joker's point given the public's opinion of lawyers in general. While lawyers hold a unique position in our society that subjects it to cynical jokes and criticism, I have found that my profession is no different than any other in terms of the type people you find practicing this old profession. There are good, bad and ugly lawyers.

Probably the one profession I found in my experience that is most similar to the legal profession though is that of ministers and preachers. Both professions involve a scholarly pursuit that are probably among the oldest of all fields of study. In our early, more rural society in America, the most educated in any community was the local pastor and, if there was one, the lawyer. That is why, traditonally, whether for good or bad, our pool of community leaders drew heavily on these two professions.

Another interesting parallel of these two professions is that much of their work involves using their considerable oratory to convince others to take a point of view or to act on matters the listener would not otherwise do. Many times a preacher's and a 'mouthpiece' (lawyer)'s success was judged by their success in this endeavor. Both are advocates. I use to muse that a trial lawyer that 'got right' with God would be compelled to preach the gospel, transferring his passion to speak from one topic to another.

So, I do not believe that the term 'Christian Lawyer' is an oxymoron at all, but merely a term identifying a disciple of Christ who happens to be a lawyer. There really are no Christian lawyers in the end, but Christians whose love for God constrains them as the Apostle Paul described to express his or her faith through his or her unique experiences and talents.

Over the past 20 years, I have been primarily involved in the practice of insurance defense. I have been one of those  trial lawyers retained by insurance companies to defend lawsuits of all types brought by the plaintiff trial lawyers. A young, Christian associate once inquired into the consistency of a lawyer professing to be a Christian to exhibit so little mercy on plaintiffs seeking damages. I explained that our job was to raise the law and hold plaintiffs 'feet to the fire' on strict legal standards when trying to prove their cases. This hard line, we hope, will not only protect our client from false or exaggerated claims, but might press the plaintiffs in a questionable claim to retreat and seek mercy, not the justice the law would mete out. In that sense, we operate like how the law in scripture is described. It drives us to the grace of Christ's gospel.

There's no oxymoron.

I hope through the use of this blog, we can share issues and questions that come about in everyday life from a Christian perspective, not necessarily from a lawyer's. I call this blog the Christian Lawyer to identify my self and at times, along with others who may participate, act as a counselor you might want to consult for advice from time to time. I may not always be right, but I think  I or others can provide a unique perspective. May God bless this effort.