Last Class: When and How Should We Apply the Higher Law Today?

Ninety years ago, Prohibition became effective throughout the United States. On January 16, 1920, Evangelist Billy Sunday celebrated the event with 15,000 Prohibition supporters in Norfolk, Virginia by presiding over a funeral for John Barleycorn (the fictional personification of alcohol). Sunday proclaimed: “John Barleycorn, we bury you because you destroyed our health; you disfigured our bodies; you ruined our nervous system…. You corrupted our courts. You defied our laws; you destroyed both soul and body; you darkened our homes; you broke our hearts; you beggared our wives and children; you led men to commit every conceivable crime.” Sunday concluded: “Farewell, you good-for-nothing, God-forsaken, iniquitous, bleary-eyed, bloat-faced old imp of perdition.” Sunday then climbed on top of his pulpit, waved an American flag, and led the crowd in singing the doxology.

Just 13 years after Sunday’s triumphant eulogy, Prohibition itself was dead. Attempts to stop alcohol production, sale, and consumption had failed. Organized crime had taken control over alcohol distribution. The results were increased crime, loss of jobs, and (according to some) even increased alcohol consumption.

The Prohibition experience provided the backdrop for our final Christian Foundations of Law class for the semester. Throughout the class we have been considering whether there is a higher law (eternal principles of justice by which human law can be evaluated). William Wilberforce believed in such a law. So did Martin Luther King Jr. It was their belief in a higher law—including that all human beings are created in the image of God with dignity and worth—that led them to criticize the laws existing in their day and to seek an end to the slave trade and legalized discrimination. They led successful efforts to apply higher law principles to their culture.

So what happened with Prohibition? Sunday and his supporters would have said they were merely doing the same thing Wilberforce had done and King would later do. They were simply applying the higher law to critique and reform human law. Sunday and others argued strenuously that abuse of alcohol is a sin and leads to many other moral wrongs. But the attempt to ban all alcohol sale and consumption failed. Indeed it backfired.

For our last class today, we considered what lessons we could learn from these experiences. To what extent should the higher law be applied to modern society? When should higher law be left to individual conscience and not be legislated? What principles should guide today’s lawmakers?

Today’s was a fun class session. Students considered a series of possible laws, arguing about whether they ought to be enacted and, if so, how. As always the discussion was wide-ranging with plenty of passion and diverging opinions.

I am sad to see the semester end! This has been a great group of students—prepared, engaged, and thoughtful. I know they are better prepared to practice law and be effective leaders in their communities as a result of their diligent work. I am proud of them and can’t wait to see what they do.

Faculty Retreat – and Legal Education in the 21st Century

The Regent Law faculty recently gathered for our annual faculty retreat. As always, we shared food and camaraderie. This is a group of men and women who greatly respect each other—and really like each other!

We also put some challenging and creative thinking into an important topic: moral and professional formation.

These are interesting days for legal education. More than I can ever remember, the legal academy has become quite introspective; we are evaluating everything we do and asking if we can do better. Influential in this evaluation has been the Carnegie Foundation’s release in 2007 of Educating Lawyers, a comprehensive review and critique of legal education in America.

Carnegie concluded that American law schools do one thing really well: teaching legal doctrine and analysis. But it argued that doctrine and analysis are not enough. It urged schools to spend much more time training students in (a) practical lawyering skills and in (b) moral and professional identity. Regarding the latter, Carnegie insisted that students must be challenged to practice law with integrity, compassion, respectfulness, and civility. Similarly, students must be challenged to view their role as a peacemaker, problem-solver, and seeker of justice—not just as a zealous advocate or hired gun. It called on schools to take on the role of moral and professional formation of their students.

Regent faculty reaction: Amen! The very mission of this school is to train lawyers who are not only excellent, but men and women of integrity, honor, and courage. Men and women who view law as a high calling to serve others.

Part of the faculty retreat was spent talking about the ways we already engage in moral and professional formation of our students. Here are just a few of many examples:

• Dean Gantt’s teaching on the moral counseling explicitly permitted by the rules of professional responsibility
• Dean Gantt’s and Professor Oates’ philosophy of lawyering project in professional responsibility
• Professor Madison’s book and class materials requiring students to grapple with the moral challenges that arise in a litigation practice
• Professor McKee’s ongoing personal mentorship in professionalism for students in our litigation clinic
• Annual student-faculty retreat on what it means—practically—to be a Christian lawyer
• Daily devotions exploring among other things how a lawyer can display the character of Jesus Christ

The faculty also discussed how we can do this moral and professional formation even better and in a more systematic way. We are devoting two additional meetings to the topic this spring, one related to teaching and the other to our scholarship.

The 21st century legal world has realized that engaging students’ minds is not enough. We must also engage students’ hearts. This engagement is a task for which Regent University School of Law is uniquely equipped.

More than a Lunch

One of my great joys this week was sitting down over lunch with our student action team for the Center for Global Justice. The team consists of 14 men and women who have voluntarily and sacrificially given of their time over the last year to take the Center from vision to reality.

Part of the lunch was a report from the students to me, Professor Ash (Center director), and Professor McKee about their work over the past few months. That was impressive.

The best part of the lunch, though, was having the students, one-by-one, share their personal stories. They described why they have dedicated themselves to promoting global justice and how they believe God is directing them in the years to come. That was amazing.

I have the best job in the world! I get to hang out with bright, passionate, and compassionate young people who are on a mission. They will be great lawyers. But their careers will not be about prestige, or power, or money. Their careers will be about service to others. God has a call on their lives. Ten years from now we will find them in Cambodia, Uganda, Romania, or urban America defending the poor, the oppressed, and the enslaved.

Great lunch. The food was good. The students were inspiring!