The Servant Lawyer, by Robert F Cochran Jr
by Lucy Han
‘Servant lawyer’ may strike some as an oxymoron.
Were you to to ask for adjectives for ‘lawyer’, responses might include ‘expensive’, ‘aloof’ or ‘unethical’ – particularly from those whose impression derives from legal dramas like ‘Suits’ or ‘Better Call Saul’.”
Yet Robert F Cochran Jr advocates for a different paradigm in The Servant Lawyer: Facing the Challenges of Christian Faith in Everyday Law Practice.
For Christian lawyers, every person in a legal matter – your client, opposing party, opposing counsel, and any stakeholder – is our neighbour whom God has brought in our lives. This summarises the tenor of Cochran’s book.
As a Christian lawyer, I appreciated Cochran’s application of the legal case method to his theological insight. Cochran maps the daily realities of legal practice – from commercial transactions to courtroom advocacy – with enduring spiritual truths. This framework serves both as encouragement and challenge for Christian lawyers to live out the Gospel in our daily practice as:
- builders and trustees
- advocates and peacemakers
- prosecutors and defence attorneys
- counsellors and colleagues
- prophets and advocates for ‘the least of these’
… conveniently separated into chapters throughout the book.
Cochran grounds his vision in lived experience, weaving together personal anecdotes and historical precedents that showcase both the potential and profound challenges for Christian lawyers. What makes his book uniquely compelling is his distinctly legal mode of theological reflection – he argues like a lawyer to lawyers, presenting competing viewpoints with fairness before demonstrating how the servant-lawyer mentality resolves these tensions.
Whether you are considering studying law, struggling through law school, weighing up a career in law, doubting your life choices, burning out from your legal practice, leaving your legal career, or struggling in the profession, this book could be the match to light or reignite your conviction to serve God and our society as a Christian lawyer.
Robert F Cochran, The Servant Lawyer: Facing the Challenges of Christian Faith in Everyday Law Practice, is published by InterVarsity Press.
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