Institute for Christian Legal Studies

I recently returned from Texas where I visited the “Global Headquarters” of the Institute for Christian Legal Studies. Regent professor Mike Schutt directs the Institute—a joint ministry of Regent Law School and the Christian Legal Society—out of Mt. Pleasant, Texas.

The Global Headquarters consists of a small one-story home just off the center of a town that lives up to its name—well, except for the “Mt.” part! The unassuming office and small “ICLS” sign out front belies just what Mike and the Institute have accomplished in the first 8 years of the Institute’s existence.

The #1 fruit of ICLS is Mike’s book Redeeming Law, published by InterVarsity Press last summer. Redeeming Law is the leading book sharing a vision of how to live out one’s calling as a Christian lawyer. Other ICLS publications include Biblical Foundations of the Criminal Law; The Biblical Foundation of Procedural Law; and Law and the Biblical Tradition: Select Bibliography for Christian Law Students.

Beyond the publications, Mike travels to law school campuses and regional retreats around the country to instruct and encourage Christian law students. He annually directs ICLS’s “Christian Scholars Symposium” at the Christian Legal Society Annual Meeting. The symposium challenges Christian professors and students to think biblically about what they do.

ICLS has built important bridges to other ministries. Through ICLS, not only does Regent partner with the Christian Legal Society, but we now work with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship as it seeks to disciple law students on campuses nationwide. Indeed, in carrying out his ICLS responsibilities, Mike has assumed the role of part-time coordinator for InterVarsity’s Law School Ministries.

The 8 years have gone quickly. But they have been fruitful. And ICLS is poised to bear much more fruit in the next 8—or 15 or 25. We plan to produce two books per year in the Biblical Foundations book series as well as to create a web-based resource center that is a leading resource center on Christian legal thought in the world.

It is an exciting vision; it was an encouraging trip.

Regent Students—Scholarly Leaders

It will not surprise readers of this blog that I am quite proud of our students. Regent Law School students come with a sense of calling and they work incredibly hard to fulfill that calling. They are men and women of high aspiration and high achievement.

In the last several years, I have watched with admiration as our students have embraced the world of legal scholarship. They know that our mission to engage the culture with Christian legal thought and practice has to include engagement in the world of ideas. Over the last few years, Regent Law School’s two journals—a third journal (the Journal of Law and Public Policy will begin publishing in the next academic year)—have sponsored outstanding symposia. These symposia have brought the nation’s leading thinkers to Regent and have resulted in a series of thought-provoking articles appearing in the Regent Law Review and the Regent Journal of International Law.

In addition to the work of our journals, individual Regent students have actively engaged the scholarly world. Not only have they written, they have won awards and have published pieces in journals around the country. Here are some recent examples:

Leo Lestino (3L)
Publication, 2007-2008 Issue of the Thomas Goode Jones Law Review, "Can Jiminy Cricket be Silenced? Congressional Federal Spending, Federalism, and the Federal Refusal Clause."
Competition, 2007 Pacific Legal Foundation Program for Judicial Awareness Writing Competition, First Place Prize, " A mutated standard of review: the Not-so-strict Deferential Scrutiny in Grutter v. Bollinger and Extending its Flawed Application to K-12 Schools" (Publication pending with law journal of Pacific Legal Foundation's choosing this year.)

Jodi Foss (3L)
The Federal Lawyer (ABA Federal Journal), “Do Two Wrongs Forfeit a Constitutional Right? Revising the Hearsay Rule to Protect the Right to Confrontation.”

Tim Creed (3L)
Recently published in the St. Thomas Law Review, “Negligent Hiring and Criminal Rehabilitation: Employing Ex-Convicts, Yet Avoiding Liability.”

John Legg (3L)
Winner of the 2006-2007 William Pew Religious Freedom Scholarship Competition for law students for his paper "Applying Unjust Laws Without Complicity in Injustice: A Synthesis of Natural Law and the Federal Judicial Role Implied by Original Meaning Textualism."

Nate Story (3L)
Virginia Bar Association News Journal, May-June 2007, “Abraham’s Law: A New Exception to Virginia’s Medical Neglect Statute.”

John Penn (2L)
Placed second in the National Embryo Donation and Adoption Essay Competition.
The title of the article: “A Different Kind of Life Estate: the Laws, Rights, and Liabilities Associated with Donated Embryos.”

Congratulations to each of these men and women—and to our outstanding student body.

A Successful End to a Superb Season

March Madness has come to an end. Yes, the NCAA college basketball tournament. But much more important, the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Tournament!

One hundred seventy-nine teams entered this tournament in regional competitions around the country. Two Regent teams swept the DC Regional. They finished first and second out of 31 teams. They also received the award for the first and second best briefs in the region.

The teams continued their success at the national level. Both teams advanced to the Sweet 16. One lost a close round to the eventual national champion, Harvard. The second advanced to the Elite 8. Valerie Kuntz won the award as the 3rd Best Oralist in the competition—3rd of 48 oralists at the national level and over 300 oralists in the tournament as a whole—a remarkable achievement. The team performed superbly and represented themselves, the school, and Jesus Christ with excellence. I am very proud of them.

The ABA moot court team was not alone in its success this year. The advocacy skills teams from Regent consistently reached high levels of achievement. Here are some other examples:

1) Champions 2008 International BLSA Negotiation Competition

2) Champions 2008 William B. Spong, Jr. Invitational Moot Court Tournament
*Regent also won the award for the Best Brief in the competition

3) Champions 2007 Burton D. Wechsler First Amendment Moot Court Competition

4) Finalists Robert R. Mehrige National Environmental Negotiation Competition

5) Runners-up ABA Regional Mediation Advocacy Competition

6) Semifinalists ABA Regional Client Counseling Competition

I am proud of all of our competitors, academic boards, and coaches. They are extremely talented. They also worked extremely hard. I am thankful for them and for God’s blessing on their efforts.

John Stanford

Recently our friend and long-time teacher and colleague John Stanford passed away after a battle with illness. John was a teacher, in the classroom and without. He taught us all many things. I am struck by three things when I think of John:

1) John was a true gentleman. He had a grace and gentleness that is rare in today’s society. John was the first person on campus to interview me for a faculty position at Regent. We had a wide ranging discussion. On some matters we disagreed. But consistently John addressed me with openness, kindness, and genuine care—even though it was the first time we had met. He displayed those same traits to all around him, whether they taught, studied, or performed maintenance at the school.

2) As a teacher, John combined a demand for precision with grace and love. John set a high standard for his students. When teaching Trial Practice, he would frequently break into the presentations to insist that the students phrased statements and objections properly. Again, though, he did so in a way that the students knew he cared for them. He spoke the truth with love.

3) John was wholeheartedly committed to Jesus Christ. John had many friends. He engaged in many activities. He achieved many things. But the first priority in his life was his relationship with Jesus Christ. And he eagerly testified about that relationship to others. John’s wholehearted commitment to Christ is the most powerful impression that I have from my time as John’s colleague.

While John’s friends and family now grieve at his passing, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We look forward to the day when we will see John and celebrate with him again.

Eric Mubiligi

Last week was an exciting one at the law school. Through the great work of our very active student organizations, a distinguished group of individuals visited the school and spoke with the Regent community. The list is impressive:

• Judge Janice Rogers Brown (U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit)


• Dennis Kasper (partner with Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith and general counsel for Campus Crusade for Christ)


• Nelson Lund (professor at George Mason University School of Law)


• Jennifer Roback Morse (author and research fellow at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty)


• Paul Diamond (British barrister and founder Christian Legal Centre)

All were outstanding. But I found the presentation by another visiting guest especially moving. That guest was Eric Mubiligi. Eric studies business and works for the European Centre for Law and Justice in Strasbourg, France. I first met Eric during our Summer Program on International Human Rights. Eric is a true servant who assisted me and our program participants in many ways.
Eric does not yet have the academic or professional credentials of the other speakers. But though just 28, Eric has lived a remarkable life. He is a native of Rwanda. In our chapel service and our International Law class, Eric shared his amazing story of survival during the 1994 genocide that took place in his country. Over a period of just a few months in 1994, 800,000 Rwandans were killed by fellow countrymen (most were Tutsis killed by Hutus).

Eric shared his harrowing experience of being a 14 year old boy with a Hutu father, a Tutsi mother, and largely Tutsi features. He described numerous incidents in which he narrowly escaped death. He also shared about numerous times that kind people brought him provision and protection just when he needed it. Remarkably, Eric is not consumed by hatred. Instead, he has learned to forgive.

Eric’s was a great visit. It was above all a reminder of the grace of God--a grace that triumphs even in the midst of great evil.

Continued Moot Court Success

Permit me a moment to brag on our students. They continue to achieve success at the highest level of competition.

The most recent example was the victory by 3L Leo Lestino and 2L Rachel Williams at the William B. Spong National Moot Court Tournament sponsored by the College of William & Mary School of Law a couple of weeks ago. Competing against teams from UVA, the University of Cincinnati, and moot court power South Texas College of Law, Leo and Rachel took first place in the tournament. They also won the award for the best brief in the competition.

Of course I am thrilled by the championship. But I am nearly as proud of the best brief award. A few years ago our faculty made a decision to commit significant resources to building an outstanding legal writing program. Four of our 28 professors, led by Professor Jim Boland, are devoted to the teaching of legal writing. Students take 6 hours of legal writing in the first year. All students must also complete additional written skills requirements before graduating.
The emphasis on writing is paying off. Our teams regularly win best brief awards at moot court competitions. In 2 of the last 6 years, our team has won the award for the best brief in the nation at the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Championship.
Let me close with a couple of personal notes:

1) Congratulations to Professor Kathleen McKee, team coach, for your outstanding training and mentoring.
2)Congratulations to the moot court board. You are 2 for 2 in tournament championships so far this year (the first was the Burton D. Wechsler First Amendment Moot Court Competition at American University in the fall). Thank you for your dedication and commitment to excellence.

Changing the World

While recruiting students at Southeastern University this week, I had the privilege of reconnecting with an alumnus of the law school. The alum is doing criminal defense work in Florida. This is not a role he envisioned while in school. But as he shared his story, it was obvious to me that God has called our alum to this work.

Our alum related the prayerful way he selects clients. And he shared stories of the way he has been able to speak truth into his clients’ lives. Sometimes his words were difficult and unwelcome and provided a needed challenge. Sometimes his words brought comfort and encouragement to individuals who had reached their lowest point. In all of these times, our alum served and loved his clients—and Jesus Christ.
I was honored—and thankful—to speak with the alum. He reminded me again that our alums are fulfilling our university motto: “Christian Leadership to Change the World.” Some of our graduates are bringing about legislative and constitutional change. But most are changing the world one case and one client at a time.