Learning to do Justice with the Love of God

Law Student Ministries is one of the four ministries of the Christian Legal Society, located in our national headquarters in Springfield, VA. LSM seeks to reach the nation's law school campuses for Christ by encouraging law students faithfully to think and act, by supporting Christian law student groups on more than 150 law school campuses and at a handful of strategic Christian colleges.  In carrying out this mission, LSM affirms that the Lord, "a God of justice" (Isa. 30:18), is the supreme lawgiver and that His "higher" law serves as an immutable standard by which to assess human "positive" law.

Meet the LSM staff or read our mission statement and three-fold ministry model

History

Law Student Ministries came into existence as a separate division of the Christian Legal Society in early 1997.  Although CLS has served law students for many years, it began to significantly expand its ministry to students in the mid-1990s because of the conviction that American law, founded on Judeo-Christian principles, had undergone alarming deterioration in the last half of the twentieth century. Since the turn of the twentieth century, American legal education has systematically rejected traditional principles and transcendent sources of law and, in their place, has exalted naturalistic and utilitarian philosophies.  The legal academy today is committed to an instrumentalist view of law and therefore to the proposition that law is merely a human artifact created solely by temporal political power.

Our Partners

In carrying out its mission, LSM relies on others to do much of the personal and pastoral ministry on campus. Law students, of course, are the primary instruments of Christ's love on their campuses.  They run and maintain student chapters, engage the university community, and minister to their classmates and professors.  Often students are aided in their campus ministry by advisors who guide and encourage these students.  Local attorneys, for example, serve as advisors and mentors.  Law professors often volunteer as chapter advisors as well, volunteering their time to serve as laiason between the student group and the law school, providing needed encouragement and support. 

In addition, CLS and InterVarsity Chrisitan Fellowship USA work closely on law school campuses, with many InterVarsiyt staffers serving local law student chapters in varied and rich ways.  If you are a chapter leader, please consider you local InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministry staff person as a valuable resource. If you do not know who that might be, please contact InterVarsity's Law School Ministry Coordinator, Mike Schutt (who currently directs LSM as well) at mschutt@clsnet.org. 

Finally, CLS and Regent University Law School have created the Institute for Christian Legal Studies (ICLS), a resource center for Christian law students and professors. ICLS provides materials and encouragement to students who seek to serve God in their law school studies and in their vocation as Christian lawyers.  Visit the ICLS Resources page here.

The Challenge Ahead

LSM recognizes that, given the twilight of transcendence in the legal profession, law students desiring to submit every aspect of their calling to the Lord are confronted with serious challenges. LSM therefore regards the next generation of lawyers as a strategic people group and counts it a privilege to reach out to pre-law and law students who have the potential to be redeeming influences in the profession and the world in years to come.  By virtue of their calling, every student will have the opportunity, if adequately equipped, to glorify God and work for His kingdom in this world.  LSM is convinced that we must continue together in this task to "Learn to do Justice with the Love of God."