Are Lawyers 'Wonderfully Made'?

Abstract

One part of the mission statement for the Pepperdine University School of Law reads: "[K]nowledge calls ultimately, for a life of service." With such words in its mission statement, an economist such as myself can predict that an affirmative answer to the conference question - Can Religious Faith Serve as a Source of Meaning in the Legal Profession? - is not going to be frowned upon.

The second reason I can predict an affirmative answer to the question being raised at this conference is my personal acquaintance with the organizer of the conference: Professor Robert Cochran. To me it seems just a few years ago that Professor Cochran was my attorney in Virginia. I was one who urged our conference organizer to leave private practice and go into the teaching of law.

Now, this was not because Professor Cochran was a bad attorney. He was an excellent attorney. But I thought he had unusual insights into combining law with his faith commitment and I thought this deserved a broader audience. Since coming to Pepperdine University, Professor Cochran has shown in several ways "[t]hat knowledge calls ultimately, for a life of service."