Legal Eagles

Available for over a year

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Rosa Hunt, Minister at Tabernacle Chapel Cardiff and Co-Principal of Cardiff Baptist College. Good morning. Happy “Love your Lawyer” day! According to a source on the web, the aim of this American initiative is to be nice to those in the legal profession and try not to make any lawyer jokes about them. Let’s see how we get on… A fortnight ago I had the privilege of meeting a lawyer here in South Wales who has, over the course of a thirty year career, seen hundreds of his clients receive prison sentences. This isn’t because he’s bad at his job! This lawyer was convinced that our prison system wasn’t working. While clear about the need to deprive certain types of offenders of their liberty to hurt others, he’s campaigning for extensive reforms to the prison system. He wants to see more programmes like those based on restorative justice, which give people and communities opportunities to repent, change and heal – instead of just locking people up. It's easy to joke about lawyers and their exorbitant fees. It’s tempting to complain about the uneasy relationship between law and justice, and the way that a clever, well-trained lawyer can help those rich enough to pay to escape what’s due to them. But it’s Love your Lawyer day, so I am not going to do either of those things. Instead, let’s celebrate those lawyers who help ordinary people who buy and sell houses, who write wills and powers of attorney for elderly parents, who defend young people who have got into trouble and courageously oppose human rights abuses in the courts. Let’s make this Pray for your Lawyer Day. Loving God, Through your son Jesus you promised that one of the signs of your kingdom was the healing that sets the prisoner free. We pray for all those involved in the legal system. Give them a passion for justice, a careful attention to detail, compassion for their clients and wisdom in making decisions. Amen.