Faith in practice

The road to Damascus is crowded with lawyers, many of whom use their particular creed as a spiritual aid for their work.

Andrew Towler traces the evolution of religion in the profession and finds organisations catering for a broad range of faiths

What with long hours, trips down to the corporate gym for a sweat, working lunches and evenings in wine bars after a hard day's slog, it is amazing that modern-day lawyers have any time for friends and family in their lives, let alone anything else.

Yet, despite public opinion that questions lawyers' morality and humanity, a large number of them actively practise religion.

As if to highlight this, the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship (LCF) is this year celebrating its 150th anniversary and is as strong as ever with a membership of around 1,500.

The LCF is a group for lawyers who, according to current president and former Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay of Clashfern, 'have a common desire to live out their Christian profession in the service of their communities while they carry on their work as lawyers'.

It was founded as a small prayer group in 1852 by Scottish barrister John McGregor, and can count Lord Denning as its previous president.

'We are a multi-denominational group who encourage, support and equip Christian lawyers throughout the UK,' says LCF director Christine John.

'We try to help lawyers make and sustain the connection between their faith and their work.

God has called us not just to be Christian people, but to be Christian lawyers and to live our faith through our work.'

Ms John makes it clear that not only is evangelism an important part of being an LCF member, but lawyers must also be equipped to uphold Christian principles at work - an aspect she suggests the latest generation of lawyers is learning through the work of the fellowship's student and young lawyers co-ordinator (SYLC).

'About 12 to 15 years ago we started to reach out more into the law schools and universities, and then the first full-time director was appointed three years ago to co-ordinate the work,' says Ms John, who in her previous incarnation was a civil litigator for 22 years, ending up a partner at Luton firm Machins.

'Since the SYLC appointment, we have experienced an increase in membership in the 25-35-year-old age groups.

People coming out of university these days seem to be far more equipped to understand the possible links between faith and practice.'

In this anniversary year, Ms John hopes to be travelling with ten lawyers, at their own expense, on a legal mission with the international justice mission to southern India to help release child-bonded labourers.

'We will be interviewing the children and presenting their cases to magistrates with the aim of getting them released,' she says.

'Then they will be rehabilitated by local non-governmental organisations.'

The LCF birthday celebrations are already under way with an address by the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, the highlight at a service in London's Temple Church last month.

Additionally, a series of outreach dinners by international evangelist Luis Palau is scheduled to run throughout the UK in May.

Another Christian organisation, with close links to the LCF, is the Association of Christian Law Firms (ACLF), founded in 1990.

This association has 36 members - all firms or sole practitioners - and James Worthington, a partner at Buckinghamshire firm Fairchild Dobbs, is its new chairman.

He says: 'The ACLF started because a number of firms felt there were common aims and issues which they had and that they could share these and support each other.

Some networking has also developed from this as firms specialise in different areas of law, and we also receive requests from members of the public who are looking for a Christian solicitor, so we can help them find one in their particular locality.'

Mr Worthington says the membership requirements for a firm are that 'all its partners are committed Christians' and defines 'committed' as 'acknowledging Jesus Christ as the Son of God and agreeing to practise under his guidance and according to biblical standards and teaching'.

The ACLF's largest member is 17-partner Birmingham firm Anthony Collins Solicitors.

Senior partner Anthony Collins says: 'My faith as a Christian is very important to me, and I see my work as a lawyer as an expression of this.

I am a great believer in the power of prayer and if a client wants to pray, then I certainly encourage it.'

As with all ACLF members, every partner at the firm is a Christian, but in the near future this may give rise to conflict with EU legislation on religious discrimination.

Paul Roberts, an employment solicitor at Anthony Collins, says a government consultation process is currently under way on what form legislation prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of religious belief shall take.

Of course, this may adversely affect firms that wish their employees to be all of the same faith; while there are firms which only employ Christians, Anthony Collins is not one of them.

Mr Roberts says: 'There will be some exemptions from the legislation, such as if the context or nature of the job mean it is a genuine requirement to be a certain religion.

It is very much open to interpretation.'

With the huge number of different cultures now living side by side in the UK, there are, naturally enough, firms to cater for most religions.

Akhtar Riaz Raja is the managing partner of London firm Raja & Co, a practice that has turned its attentions to catering for Muslim clients simply because of the excess of demand.

'Most of our employees and clients are Muslims, but this is down to responding to clients' needs as opposed to setting out to be exclusive,' he says.

'A huge amount of work has a religious dimension to it, from individual needs right up to corporate and commercial dealings, such as those involving interest, which Muslims aren't allowed to deal in.'

Mr Raja says people appreciate speaking to a solicitor who understands their background and needs.

'No two Arabs ever share exactly the same ideology, but an outsider may think they do,' he says.

The religious aspects of the firm can be seen in the building itself, with rooms for ablution and praying, and set meals at fast breaks during Ramadan.

On a larger scale, the Association of Muslim Lawyers (AML) was founded in 1993 and now has around 200 members.

It aims to promote the legal rights of Muslims and tries to achieve this through seminars and its magazine, The Muslim Lawyer.

Former chairman Mahmud Al-Rashid QC says: 'It is a very informal society but we try to encourage members to let their beliefs manifest themselves in their professional life.

Islam is not something you should just practise in private; it is a set of values by which to lead your life.'

As with Ms John, Mr Al-Rashid says there are many young lawyers joining the association.

'I think people in their 40s and 50s have a great deal of cynicism and scepticism about religion, but it is highly valued among younger people today,' he says.

The Association of Jewish Lawyers (AJL) was founded in 1994 by its current chairman and former law lecturer Bernard Berkovits - a Dayan in the Jewish religious court, the Beth Din.

Mr Berkovits says the 150 members of AJL are open to 'all Jewish lawyers or those who identify with Orthodox Judaism' and has two aims: to educate lawyers in Jewish law and to encourage knowledge of Jewish law in the English civil courts.

'We monitor any developments in English law that may affect Jewish law such as matters of employment, contract and family law,' he says.

'We also keep abreast of more specific issues concerning post-mortems, the donation of organs and, for example, a current human rights action in Sweden involving the right to circumcise a child.'

And Jonathan Metliss, a partner at SJ Berwin & Co and a practising Jew, says: 'I wouldn't expect myself to behave professionally in a way that contradicts my religious beliefs and morals.'

It appears that if you are to follow a strict faith while practising law, then a balance has to be struck between supporting those with the same beliefs and helping those in need.

As Mr Al-Rashid says: 'I entered law as a profession to help others and it doesn't matter what religion other people are.

If you live by the principles of your faith and fight for justice it doesn't matter what your clients believe in.'