How To Become a Better Attorney.

What do you call 10,000 lawyers in the pit of hell?
Answer: A good start.

LOL?

Always the punch line to jokes, lawyers sometime get a bad rap.  No doubt, some of the derision is well-deserved.  I always used to get a good belly laugh at dry-wit lawyer jokes.  Heck, I told my share of them without a second thought.  I joined in on the guffaws wondering if we attorneys really were all on a joyride to hell.  Then something happened a few years ago…

The greatest day of my life was the day that I accepted Jesus Christ into my Life.  But it was an interesting transformation for me in my life and practice because I was already an established personal injury attorney when I got saved.   After my rebirth, one doctor friend of mine tried to warn me, “say goodbye to your career” and proceed to try to convince me that people want their personal injury attorney to be unsaved, vicious and wicked.

Indeed, some people think that it is odd when I tell them that I am both a born-again believer and a personal injury attorney … as if those two things do not go together.  But I wondered for a long time if the idea that a lawyer could be saved really is somehow an offense to some folks.  I have learned from being on both the defense and plaintiff side in injury cases that people are bias and sometime untrue to what they believe.  Despite what we all learn on Sunday, there really is a sentiment in our humanity that doesn’t always want to prefer the other’s advantage … a mindset that rails against doing unto others as you would have done unto you.  I know this sentiment all too well, since I try personal injury cases in court before juries.

I remember early in my practice when a jury consultant explained to me during an important trial this certain psychology of which to be aware, explaining to me that despite what we prove in our case, “some jurors simply do want to enrich their neighbors.”  Being able to discern this sentiment in a potential juror can be very helpful in securing a just and fair verdict.  My job as a litigator is made easier when I find jurors who are walking in what they claim to believe.  People should want the best for others, not just financially (in terms of fair compensation), but also spiritually.  Is that notion too revolutionary?

People should not only prefer — but also insist – on their attorney being Saved.  Personally, if I am going to court for any reason, I want the person who is speaking on my behalf to the court or to a group of strangers (called a “jury”) to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ … the Wonderful Counselor.  I am a better attorney when I consult with Him …. More, I am a better person.

A very wise theologian once explained to me that “Nothing lost in God’s economy.”  I have come to find that to be true.  I continued to practice law and to represent people for their injuries after my salvation.  As I walk with God, I see things and have new insights that simply did not exist years before when I was unsaved.  I continue to help people – only now with a new-born passion that is breathed into me.  Many clients have confided in me that it is very comforting to have an attorney who is living the surrendered life … and that you don’t have to leave the Kingdom in order to find a good attorney.