Catholic and Law School?

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Rascalking

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Hi everyone!

I’ve been thinking about going to law school for a while now. I think the calling might be there to practice criminal law and be a defense attorney.

My question, and please don’t hold back-Can a Catholic in good conscience be a criminal lawyer? Or a lawyer in general ;)?

Thank you and God Bless!
 
I got an MA in Law with a thesis about the benefit of doubt in criminal trial and now I’m doing Ph.D. in the same. Strange degrees, I know, but I’m simply from a different country. 😉

I’ve had difficult moments, sure, there’s always the risk you’ll get an assignment you won’t be able to accept. Perhaps if they know beforehand that you’re Catholic, they won’t try to give it to you. And you can always work on your own instead of joining an established law firm. Or find a small Catholic law firm. Or put the right clauses in the contract. You won’t escape choices, of course, but the practice of law is not the only field where this is true.
 
I hope they can! Otherwise, I’ve wasted two years of my life.

Seriously, yes you can. Lawyers are mostly very moral and ethical people who genuinely want to help people. There are a few who ruin it sometimes for everyone else. I have no internal conflict right now. Maybe it will be different when I get out and start practicing.
 
Walden said:
I hope they can! Otherwise, I’ve wasted two years of my life.

Seriously, yes you can. Lawyers are mostly very moral and ethical people who genuinely want to help people.
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:eek:

Which country is that?
 
chevalier said:
:eek:

Which country is that?
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Ha…I notice you left off the qualifier I wrote after that sentence.

United States of course. Some would consider me an optimist;).

I’m not trying to be dense. I honestly believe that lawyers get a bad rap. Some deserve it, but most do not.
 
Well, if Catholics can’t be lawyers, then St. Thomas More, St. Ivo of Kermartin, St. Raymond of Peñafort, and St. Yves are all in for a big surprise.

Of course Catholics can be lawyers. And of course Catholics can be good criminal defense lawyers. It’s like any other profession: whether you can perform it in good conscience depends on you, not on the profession.

Don’t listen to the “all lawyers are evil” crowd; those naysayers are practicing the sin of calumny and should be ignored.

As for the legitimate questions – how do I justify helping a guilty man go free, etc. – don’t let them deter you from going to law school. As you’ll learn in law school, you can do your job morally without violating legal ethics. Heck, most of the Anglo-American jurisprudential system is derived directly from the legal system of the Catholic Church. It’s perfectly possible to work within it and keep a clear conscience.
 
I practiced medical malpractice defense law for 10 years and changed careers about five years ago.

One of the difficulties I had was the constant pressure on young associates to generate large amounts of billable hours for the firm, resulting in the temptation to “pad” one’s billable hours. This is tacitly accepted at many firms.

My advice would be to choose your first legal position very carefully to make sure that the firm is strongly committed to ethical business practices and that the partners are people of good character.

All the best to you!
 
Our Deacon is a civil lawyer. He shuns criminal law because he says he can identify with the victim and the defendant. My father was a sucessful Deputy DA for 25 years. Go for it! You and John Roberts may serve on the same court one day! 👍
 
Catholic1954 said:
Our Deacon is a civil lawyer. He shuns criminal law because he says he can identify with the victim and the defendant. My father was a sucessful Deputy DA for 25 years. Go for it! You and John Roberts may serve on the same court one day! 👍
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I don’t know how that slipped my mind! We have 5 Catholics there now.
 
PoliSciProf said:
You might want to check out Ave Maria Law School. Here’s the link: avemarialaw.edu/
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Before you think that school is what they proclaim to be, check out

www.avewatch.com

Gone are the ethical founding professors
Gone are the natural law proponents like Charlie Rice
Gone are the higher LSATs and quality of the initial first year grads.

Still present is the incompetence of the Monaghan owed administration
Still present is the now tier-4 ranking
Still present is the horrible financial management - Ave is rock bottom: chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i39/39a02101.htm
Still present is the site in Plymouth deemed unworthy… now to be happily occupied by another branch of Cooley Law School
 
Godfollower said:
As for the legitimate questions – how do I justify helping a guilty man go free
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That one’s “easy”: the guilty one deserves due process. He deserves punishment for what he did, not for what the prosecutor says he did. He did what he did, the way he did, not what and the way the prosecutor says he did. He deserves as much jail time as he deserves, not as much as the prosecutor says he deserves.

The prosecutor’s job is to make sure the man doesn’t get away as long as he’s guilty. Your job is to make sure he doesn’t go to jail as long as he’s innocent (and the extent he isn’t as guilty as it’s being charged).

You’re not allowed to lie or make things up or manipulate the evidence. You are allowed and required (even ethically) to come up with any mitigating circumstance that actually exists and if you aren’t entirely sure, you still go for it because the judge is who needs to be entirely sure of things and if he isn’t, he’s obliged to give the accused the benefit of doubt.

Cf. the Church’s own “advocatus diaboli”, who came up with reasons why a prospective saint should not be declared a saint. Envy him any? Probably not. And yet the Church still kept the guy on the roster because someone had to do it.

Due process doesn’t rely on one individual. It’s a whole system and it needs many guys with many roles. The defence attorney has his own too.

Just off the top of my head, but hope it’s kinda helpful. 🙂
 
Everyone thank you SO MUCH. It’s given me much to think about!

God bless!

Tim
 
I’ve been in the same boat as you, OP, and being Catholic and going to law school is a tough plate to juggle. But not impossible. Think about attending a Catholic law school if you really want to give yourself a chance of less hatred towards your faith or God in general… but going to a secular school would be fine too.

I’m applying for law schools in fall and I’ve been facing the same things you’re probably feeling. Catholic lawyers can help the world so much right now. My father is a criminal lawyer, and he isn’t Catholic, so I couldn’t tell you if being Catholic interferes, but personally I feel it would. Business is business is a fallacy that the secular world loves to promote. You can’t separate your work from your faith , ever.

I think being a prosecutor would flow better than criminal lawyer.
 
If you are a Catholic lawyer defending an abortionist, and you get him acquitted, does that mean you are excommunicated?
 
Just_Lurking said:
If you are a Catholic lawyer defending an abortionist, and you get him acquitted, does that mean you are excommunicated?
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Even alleged abortionists (and until they’re safely and properly proven guilty all that exists are allegations) are entitled to be presumed innocent of crime until proven guilty, and to have full due process afforded them, and to be acquitted if due process is denied or if they are not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

If you do something unethical or immoral in order to get him acquitted (tamper with the evidence or the jury, for example), that’s a sin and a crime as well. If you defend him on the basis that abortion should be legal for everyone and is just fine and dandy with you, THAT would get you excommunicated, sure.
 
Tim, go for it! I think you should apply to the schools that really perk your interest. See, you know what it means to be faithful and Catholic, with that, you are clearly focused on what is right and good. I think it is better to see counsel who live the faith and not need to talk up his or her resume to prove themselves. It will definitely come together in your demeanor. You seem pretty excited, and I would be, too if I had good support and focus in my life direction.

I think the lord is speaking to you as part of this life discernment to be the voice for so many who cannot speak and defend themselves. To fight for the causes that bring justice on the forefront of issues that you and our church are passionate about. A criminal attorney can do all of that. Sure, there will be challenges, but there will also be perks, and one of them is joining the attorneys in the other threads and crack jokes. Because sometimes it can be entertaining, too.

We are all called to be soldiers sometimes, even in our own turf. It is a very noble profession, that unfortunately gets a bad rap. My experience is that I have to give everyone a chance, if by that God has called me to interact with them. There are many that I get along with, and actually no attorneys, so far that have given me a problem. Most lawyers are usually irritated by other lawyers or judges. THIS is life. Same goes with family, peers, friends, bla, bla, bla.

GO for it! God Bless You!
 
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