Christian Legal Society

Christian Legal Society (CLS) is a United States nonprofit organization that connects Christian legal professionals and students and promotes the integration of Christian faith with legal practice. Its membership base includes lawyers, judges, law professors, law students, and other people who affirm the organization’s Statement of Faith. CLS describes its work in terms of Christian fellowship, professional formation, legal ethics, justice, religious liberty, protection of human life, reconciliation, and assistance for people who cannot readily afford legal representation. The organization traces its origins to a prayer gathering at an American Bar Association convention in 1959. Four lawyers—Paul Bernard, Gerrit P. Groen, Henry Luke Brinks, and Elmer Johnson—subsequently founded the society in Chicago in 1961. From that beginning, CLS developed a national network of local attorney chapters, law-school chapters, fellowships, conferences, and legal-aid initiatives. Its activities are not limited to professional networking: the organization also seeks to help Christian lawyers understand their work as a form of ministry and to encourage them to apply religious and ethical commitments to their professional lives. CLS is organized around several principal areas. Attorney Ministries and Law Student Ministries provide community, education, and chapter support for legal professionals and students. The Center for Law & Religious Freedom engages public-law and constitutional questions involving religious liberty and the rights of faith-based organizations. Christian Legal Aid supports or connects legal clinics that provide services to poor and vulnerable clients. The organization has also promoted Christian approaches to dispute resolution and reconciliation; related conciliation work developed during the 1980s and 1990s and later became associated with Peacemaker Ministries and the Institute for Christian Conciliation. The society holds an annual national convention and regional conferences. Its publications and educational materials have included The Christian Lawyer magazine, The Journal of Christian Legal Thought, Bible studies, and electronic devotionals. Earlier publications included the Quarterly, The Defender, and the Religious Freedom Reporter. CLS has reported a presence in many United States cities through attorney chapters, student chapters, and affiliated or assigned legal-aid clinics. The organization is supported through membership dues, charitable donations, and gifts rather than public-market financing. Its religious identity is central to its membership model: prospective members are expected to affirm and sign the CLS Statement of Faith. That requirement has placed CLS at the center of legal disputes over the relationship between religious association, student-organization recognition, and institutional nondiscrimination policies. The most prominent case was Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, in which the United States Supreme Court upheld the University of California, Hastings College of the Law’s all-comers recognition policy in a 5–4 decision in 2010. CLS has also participated in litigation involving student-group recognition at the University of Florida. These cases made the society a significant participant in debates about religious liberty and access to public educational forums, even though CLS itself remains primarily a membership, ministry, educational, and legal-aid organization.

Christian Legal Society began with a small prayer meeting among lawyers attending an American Bar Association convention in 1959. Paul Bernard, Gerrit P. Groen, Henry Luke Brinks, and Elmer Johnson were associated with that gathering and founded the organization in Chicago two years later, in 1961. The founders sought to create a setting in which Christian lawyers could encourage one another, discuss the relationship between Christianity and law, and understand legal work as an expression of faith and service. Over time, CLS developed from a local fellowship into a national organization with attorney chapters, law-school chapters, student fellowships, conferences, publications, and legal-aid programs. Its membership has included lawyers, judges, law professors, law students, and other participants who affirm the society’s Statement of Faith. The organization’s stated objectives include Christian witness in legal and related disciplines, fellowship and spiritual nurture, faith-and-profession integration, high standards of legal ethics, religious liberty, the right to human life, biblical reconciliation, and legal assistance for poor or otherwise needy clients. A major strand of CLS activity has been the development of legal education and professional resources. The society has sponsored a national convention and regional meetings and has published The Christian Lawyer, The Journal of Christian Legal Thought, Bible studies, and electronic devotional material. Older publications associated with its work included the Quarterly, The Defender, and the Religious Freedom Reporter. These activities have allowed CLS to operate simultaneously as a professional association, a Christian ministry, and an educational network. During the 1980s and 1990s, CLS also developed a Christian Conciliation Ministry focused on faith-informed dispute resolution and reconciliation. That work later became associated with separate organizations identified as Peacemaker Ministries and the Institute for Christian Conciliation. In its more recent organizational structure, CLS has emphasized three broad branches: Attorney Ministries and Law Student Ministries; the Center for Law & Religious Freedom; and Christian Legal Aid. The network has been described as extending across many United States cities, with more than 50 attorney chapters, approximately 120 law-school chapters, and around 60 legal-aid clinics cited in reference material. The society’s religious membership requirements have generated constitutional litigation, particularly when CLS or affiliated student groups sought recognition or access at public universities. In the University of Florida dispute, a Christian student organization represented with CLS’s assistance challenged barriers to recognition under university policies. The Eleventh Circuit litigation ended after the university revised its rules, making the case moot. The more consequential dispute was Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, involving Hastings College of the Law. The Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that Hastings could condition official recognition on compliance with an all-comers policy requiring recognized groups to accept students regardless of status or beliefs. The decision did not eliminate CLS’s ability to operate as a religious association, but it upheld the school’s neutral recognition condition against CLS’s First Amendment challenge. CLS is funded as a tax-exempt nonprofit through dues, donations, and gifts. Reference material reports financial support from Alliance Defending Freedom in 2008, but no current financial figures are included here because a time-specific primary financial source was not supplied. The organization remains active in the United States, maintaining its legal-professional, religious-liberty, educational, fellowship, and legal-aid roles.

• 2010

  Supreme Court decides Christian Legal Society v. Martinez

  [2]Christian Legal Society v. Martinezen.wikipedia.org

  The Court upheld Hastings College of the Law’s all-comers policy for officially recognized student organizations in a 5–4 ruling.

• 2007

  University of Florida student-group litigation begins

  [1]Christian Legal Societyen.wikipedia.org

  CLS and the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit involving recognition of a Christian student organization at the University of Florida.

• 1980

  Christian Conciliation Ministry develops

  [1]Christian Legal Societyen.wikipedia.org

  CLS developed a ministry devoted to Christian approaches to dispute resolution and reconciliation during the 1980s and 1990s.

• 1961

  Christian Legal Society founded in Chicago

  [1]Christian Legal Societyen.wikipedia.org

  Paul Bernard, Gerrit P. Groen, Henry Luke Brinks, and Elmer Johnson founded the organization as a Christian fellowship and professional network for lawyers.

• 1959

  Prayer gathering at an American Bar Association convention

  [1]Christian Legal Societyen.wikipedia.org

  Four lawyers who would later establish CLS met to pray and discuss Christian engagement with the legal profession.

A faith-based professional association and ministry for members of the legal profession, combining Christian fellowship, legal education, religious-liberty advocacy, legal aid, and faith-informed professional ethics.

• Professional network

  Attorney Ministries

  A CLS branch serving Christian lawyers, judges, law professors, and other legal professionals through local chapters, fellowship, professional development, conferences, and resources intended to connect legal practice with Christian faith and ethics.

• Student network

  Law Student Ministries

  A network for Christian law students and law-school chapters. It supports campus fellowship, spiritual formation, professional preparation, and discussion of the ethical and constitutional issues that arise at the intersection of Christianity and law.

• Legal advocacy

  Center for Law & Religious Freedom

  CLS’s religious-liberty policy and advocacy center, associated with public discussion and legal work concerning freedom of religion, faith-based associations, constitutional rights, and the ability of religious communities to participate in public life.

• Legal aid

  Christian Legal Aid

  A CLS branch connected with legal-aid clinics and efforts to encourage lawyers to provide services to poor and vulnerable people. Its work reflects the organization’s stated goal of giving special attention to the legal needs of churches, charities, and people unable to afford counsel.

• Magazine

  The Christian Lawyer

  A biannual CLS magazine covering topics relevant to Christian legal professionals, including professional identity, faith, legal ethics, community, and developments affecting religious organizations and lawyers.

• Scholarly journal

  The Journal of Christian Legal Thought

  A scholarly publication addressing legal thought, jurisprudence, theology, ethics, and the relationship between Christian perspectives and the legal profession.

• 2010

  Challenge to Hastings College of the Law all-comers policyOther

  Background

  CLS challenged a University of California, Hastings College of the Law policy requiring officially recognized student organizations to accept all students, including those who did not share the organization’s religious beliefs or status requirements.

  Action taken

  The United States Supreme Court upheld Hastings’s policy in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez by a 5–4 vote, rejecting CLS’s First Amendment challenge to the recognition condition.

  Aftermath

  The ruling preserved the school’s ability to impose an all-comers condition on recognition while leaving religious groups free to operate outside the official recognition framework. The case became an important precedent concerning public universities, student organizations, expressive association, and religious liberty.

  Source

• 2007

  Participation in University of Florida recognition litigationOther

  Background

  A Christian student organization associated with the University of Florida sought recognition, while the university’s policies raised questions involving religious and membership restrictions.

  Action taken

  CLS and the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit against university officials. During the litigation, the Eleventh Circuit ordered recognition pending appeal proceedings.

  Aftermath

  The case was ultimately dismissed as moot after the university amended its policies to allow registration of the student chapter.

  Source

1. 1Christian Legal Societyen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Christian Legal Society v. Martinezen.wikipedia.org