Forming Good Counselors For A Society In Need

By Frank Devito

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In Shakespeare’s Henry VI, part 2, the character Dick the Butcher, a supporter of the rebellion of Jack Cade, utters one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines: “The first thing we do is, let's kill all the lawyers.” It is easy to take this quotation as a simple condemnation of lawyers as members of a corrupt profession. But there is much more to this sobering statement.

If one wants to create civil unrest, to throw off law and order, and to create revolution, what better way than to get rid of the lawyers, those who draft and enforce and judge the laws? Lawyers, if properly formed in learning and virtue, are meant to be key protectors of society. By helping to draft good laws, representing clients to ensure their rights are protected, and sitting as judges and government officials who carefully guard society from lawlessness, lawyers are key to promoting the common good in any healthy society.

But lawyers will not naturally rise to the challenge of being virtuous professionals, well-formed not only in the technical aspects of the law but in a broad general education, a deep spirituality, the practice of virtue, and the aspiration to treat the legal profession as a noble calling. They need formation in these areas, friendship with mentors to guide them along the way, and a community of like-minded lawyers.

While there are some excellent law schools, as well as great on-campus groups, that can help facilitate such formation, sadly this view of educating lawyers is far from the norm in modern society. The average law school experience is heavy on the technical study of law and perhaps on chances to practice law in various internships and clinics, but a deep formation based on first principles is simply not part of the average law student’s experience.

So, short of massive institutional reform regarding the vision and formation provided by the law school system, how do we bridge the gap and create good counselors ready to step into the breach and work for the good of society? The Good Counselor Project was created for precisely this reason. And it works.

I found the Good Counselor Project (GCP) long before I worked for Napa Legal. The program seeks to provide spiritual formation for lawyers, help them to realize that the practice of law is a noble calling, introduce them to the study of the Great Books, and build a community of like-minded lawyers prepared to serve the Church and civil society. This program so obviously filled a dire need in the legal profession. I knew I wanted to be a part of it from the moment I saw the first announcement, so I applied and was blessed to be part of the first cohort in 2021-2022.

The program did not disappoint; every aspect of the GCP Fellowship exceeded my expectations.

The formation was excellent. When I think of what it takes to form well-rounded lawyers to live the noble calling of the lawyer in the public square, the answer is both the cultivation of a deep spiritual life and a serious intellectual life. The Good Counselor Project fosters both.  

The seminars and other programming offered by the GCP Fellowship delivered a transformative spiritual program. As a former seminarian and monk, I spent years receiving spiritual formation. But the GCP Fellowship was different, because it was geared toward lawyers working in the world. Hearing lawyers and other talented professionals talk about the law as a vocation, about developing a deep inner life among the busyness of a layman’s life, about striving to become a saint in the midst of the world, was a necessary and incredible experience.  

Too often, Christians assume that a deep life of prayer and holiness is mostly reserved for monks, nuns, priests, and great saints who had the time to focus on their spiritual lives. Of course, that is not the teaching of the Gospel: Christ calls every one of His followers to “be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” But being taught and encouraged by fellow lawyers, by those traveling a similar vocational and professional path, deeply inspired me to remember that being a lawyer, being in the world, being incredibly busy, did not mean that I was called to holiness any less than the greatest of saints.

The intellectual formation was similarly transformative. In school, it is easy to focus on study and formation. Once one enters marriage and begins raising children, coupled with professional life, it is easy to dismiss the intellectual life as no longer a central part of one’s life and calling. But by reading great works – from Homer and Plato to Aquinas and Dante – and discussing those works with other faithful lawyers, I was able to rediscover my lifelong love of learning, to find a place for the life of the mind in my busy life, and to see how serious study continues to be a necessary and beneficial part of my life as a professional. Two years after completing the fellowship, I continue to make prayer and study of the Great Books a central part of my everyday life.

Without the GCP Fellowship, I would not have recommitted to the importance of a deep spiritual and intellectual life as a necessary part of my calling. That recommitment has been transformative both to my personal life and my professional work.

The service component of the GCP Fellowship has also been a great blessing. The fellowship afforded opportunities to serve faith-based nonprofits that do crucial work. By giving fellows the chance to put their legal expertise at the service of faith-based nonprofits through writing resources and taking pro bono cases, a crucial connection is forged between nonprofits doing needed work in society and the lawyers with the faith and skills to help those organizations accomplish their mission.  

This service component also raised my awareness of the importance of faith-based nonprofits to the flourishing of a healthy society. The GCP Fellowship opened my eyes to all the amazing work being done by churches, classical schools, Christian media companies, pregnancy centers, and many other types of religious and charitable organizations. These are the institutions that act to accomplish the works of mercy, to feed the hungry, house the homeless, comfort the afflicted, and make disciples of all people. Society needs these organizations; in turn, these organizations need the help of faithful lawyers to accomplish their missions. The GCP Fellowship bridges that gap.

Finally, the GCP Fellowship is doing amazing work to build community. Each year, the program takes a new group of lawyers, brings them together for formation and service, and creates a network of like-minded lawyers around the country. This is not merely a “network” in the professional, transactional sense. This is a closely-knit group of disciples who are forging deep bonds of friendship. I have personally made connections with other GCP fellows that have flourished and become deep (hopefully life-long) friendships. It was through these friendships that I received the opportunity to work full-time as Counsel at the Napa Legal Institute.  

I have watched GCP fellows and alumni become good friends, start amazing projects together, help each other find jobs, and generally encourage each other to become better, holier lawyers. An intentional community of faith within the legal profession is a needed and powerful force for good. It is a blessing to watch the GCP Fellowship foster that community year after year.

If it isn’t clear by now, the GCP Fellowship is a transformative work for the good of modern society. By taking young, faithful lawyers and offering them faith-based formation, service opportunities, and community, Napa Legal is sowing the seeds for a needed renewal in the Church and in society.  

Every young lawyer of faith should apply for the GCP Fellowship. Every person who knows a young lawyer who would be a good fit for this program should refer him or her to apply. And everyone who thinks it is important for our society to have good, well-formed lawyers who strive to live the legal profession as a calling should support the Good Counselor Project however they can. If we want society to flourish, we need more good counselors.