Who We Are

Our Mission

To nurture and encourage Christian law students by providing mentors and resources aimed at fostering:

  • spiritual growth,
  • compassionate outreach, and
  • the integration of faith, study, and practice.

And to establish and maintain vibrant witnessing communities of law students on every law school campus in the nation and at key Christian colleges.

Our Objectives

Our mission is developed through four foundational objectives of CLS’ ministry:

GATHERING LAW STUDENTS ON CAMPUS
The first, and most modest, objective in fulfilling the CLS mission is simply an invitation: we want to bring students and lawyers into community by encouraging them to gather locally or to simply identify as Christ-followers. We desire to extend an invitation for law students on campus to stand up and say “I’m with Him.” Yet this goal is central. As law students who follow Jesus, we provide encouragement to our brothers and sisters in the profession.

FOSTERING SPIRITUAL FORMATION
The second objective is to assist law students as they become more Christ-like in the context of preparation for law practice. We all recognize that there are unique challenges, temptations, and issues facing Christian lawyers and law students, and our “lay” friends, including pastors and mentors, do not always understand the issues we face. Whether it be the time crunch of memo writing in law school, the pressures of partner-track politics at the big firm, the stress of preparing for trial, or the intricacies of an ethical dilemma, faithful responses are not easy to come by. Sharing with a brother or sister in Christ who “gets” the issue is often the most significant step on the way to spiritual understanding.

ENCOURAGING VOCATIONAL STEWARDSHIP
The third foundational objective of LSM centers on the lawyer’s calling. We want to help law students develop a well-defined understanding of Christian vocation and how it works itself out in law study and practice.

SUPPORTING CHRISTIAN SERVICE TO THE CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
Finally, Law Student Ministries seeks to encourage Christian law students to reach out to their campuses with the love of Christ. This element of service is a natural outgrowth of gathering together, growing spiritually, and thinking carefully about vocation. After all, if we see our legal gifts as given to us for the benefit of others, one of our critical tasks will be identifying those that might benefit from what we have.

FULFILLING OUR MISSION

  • A National and Local Network of Christian Attorneys and Law Students
    CLS connects students with Christian attorneys to encourage, pray for, and mentor students. Attorneys and students meet and develop relationships through the CLS attorney chapters across the country, as well as through an annual national conference and several regional retreats. One of the great joys of being part of CLS and Law Student Ministries is being part of a movement that is bigger than one’s campus or the local bar association.
  • Resources Developed Specifically for Law Students
    We have a library of resources, including Bible studies, podcasts, videos, blogs, and devotionals, developed with law students in mind, LSM wants to help students address the challenges they face in the study and future practice of law.

Who We Are

Christian Legal Society’s Law Student Ministries (LSM) ministers to thousands of students on more than 150 law school campuses and at strategic Christian colleges across the country.

Our mission is to nurture and encourage Christian law students by providing mentors and resources aimed at fostering spiritual growth, compassionate outreach, and the integration of faith and practice and to establish and maintain vibrant witnessing communities of law students on every law school campus in the nation and at key Christian colleges.

In carrying out that mission, LSM affirms that the Lord, “a God of justice” (Isaiah 30:18), is the supreme lawgiver and that higher law serves as an immutable standard by which to assess human law.

LSM regards the next generation of lawyers as a strategic people group and counts it a privilege to reach out to law and prelaw students who will be redeeming influences in the profession and the world. By virtue of their calling, every student will have the opportunity to glorify God and work for His kingdom. We must continue together in this task to “Learn to do Justice with the Love of God.”

Yet law students desiring to submit every aspect of their calling to the Lord are confronted with serious challenges in the legal academy. LSM seeks to support students as they seek to develop and use their gifts for the good of their neighbors and the glory of God.

History

CLS began Law Student Ministries (LSM) in 1962-63

CLS began Law Student Ministries (LSM) in 1962-63, modeling the ministry after the Christian Medical and Dental Society and beginning law student chapters at the University of Michigan, Northwestern University (Illinois), Stetson (Florida), UC Berkeley, and Harvard University. The first LSM office opened on the campus of Trinity International University in Northbrook, Illinois (Director Charlie Emmerich and Asst. Director Dan Babarik), and grew in purpose and programming. In 2001, the office in Illinois closed and moved to the CLS headquarters in Northern Virginia.

Thousands of Christian law students and professors gather throughout law schools every school year in CLS chapters and networked/connected Christian law student fellowships. The CLS Law School Fellows program launched in 2018, under Director Mike Schutt, and continues to be a life-changing week of learning and fellowship.

Law Student Ministries Team

Anton Sorkin

Director, Law Student Ministries

Anton Sorkin

Director, Law Student Ministries

Anton Sorkin is the director of Law Student Ministries at Christian Legal Society and an affiliate professor at Trinity Law School. He previously practiced employment law and religious freedom litigation. His research and writing is focused on the confluence of law, religion, and public policy – with a number of academic publications in journals that range from the University of Memphis Law Review, Cardozo Journal of Law & Gender, and the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion. Anton has presented his research in various international and domestic forums, including at St. Hugh’s College in Oxford, England; Pepperdine University in Malibu, California; and the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada.

Anton earned a doctorate (SJD) at Emory University School of Law under the supervision of Professor John Witte. He also received an LLM from Emory in law and religion, a JD from Regent University School of Law, and an engineering degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

In his free time, Anton likes discovering new music, attending film festivals, discussing political theology, and dabbling in the game of golf. He has a passion for strengthening Christian students to live out their faith in the complexity of the modern condition. He also seeks to engage in pressing questions of concern by studying various mediums through which pain is processed and displayed.

Brent Amato

Barnabas Fellow, Chicagoland

Brent Amato

Barnabas Fellow, Chicagoland

Brent practiced transactional law in the Chicago area for forty years, specializing in corporate business and non-profit work.  That practice was split about equally between private practice as a partner at two law firms and in-house corporate practice for two publicly-traded companies, first as an Associate Counsel and then as General Counsel.  As of December 31, 2014 he retired from the practice of law.

Brent has sought to integrate his Christian faith and his law practice through (i) the Christian Legal Society (as former Board member and President and now Staff member, working with lawyers and law students); (ii) Peacemaker Ministries and Crossroads Resolution Group (as a Certified Christian Conciliator for conflict resolution, mentor and teacher); (iii) Administer Justice (whose mission is to meet the legal and spiritual needs of the poor) and (iv) Judson University (as a Business Law Adjunct Professor).

Over these years, Brent has been a speaker and teacher at national, regional and local law-related conferences.

Brent serves as an Elder, Community Group Coordinator and Leader at his Church.

Sports and grandparenting are his two favorite extra-curricular activities.

Brent is married to Sherrie (his “better seven-eights”) and has been blessed with two children and six grandchildren.

Joe Ruta

Barnabas Fellow, Northeast

Joe Ruta

Barnabas Fellow, Northeast

Joseph (“Joe”) A. Ruta has been an attorney in New York City for 30 years. He began a solo practice of law in Manhattan in 1994, after being out of law school for only two years. Joe grew the practice by forming a partnership with Steven Soulios in 2001 and then adding Demetrios Stratis as a partner in 2011. The practice deals with various civil litigation, corporate, employment, real estate, bankruptcy and non-profit matters. Joe also currently serves as outside general counsel to over 30 companies including public and national not-for-profit organizations. He has successfully litigated religious freedom, religious discrimination, and right of conscience matters in state and federal courts.

Joe graduated valedictorian of Marist College in 1989 after having attended Oxford University during his junior year abroad and winning Marist’s first debate championship in the college’s history as a sophomore. He then attended Brooklyn Law School as a Richardson Scholar obtaining a J.D. 1992. While in law school, he had the privilege of clerking for the Honorable Harold Baer, Jr. Joe was the president of the New York Metro Chapter of Christian Legal Society from 2002 to 2013 and was a member of the board of directors on a national level for Christian Legal Society from 2008 to 2017. Joe also served on the board of directors of Zarephath Christian Church from 2011 to 2017, ending his tenure as vice chair. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife of 26 years, and they have three children.

Mike Schutt

Director, CLS Law School Fellows Program

Mike Schutt

Director, CLS Law School Fellows Program

Mike Schutt is the director of CLS Law School Fellows program. He worked for CLS for nearly 20 years but is now the CEO of Worldview Academy. He continues to run our Fellows program because he remains passionate about helping law students understand their calling. Professor Schutt taught at Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach and practiced law in Fort Worth, Texas with Thompson & Knight. He is an honors graduate of the University of Texas School of Law.

Mike is the author of Redeeming Law: Christian Calling and the Legal Profession (InterVarsity Press 2007), a vocational exhortation for law students and lawyers. His other publications include Oliver Wendell Holmes and the Decline of the American Lawyer: Social Engineering, Religion, and the Search for Professional Identity, 30 RUTGERS L. J. 143 (1998) and What’s A Nice Christian Like You Doing in a Profession Like This? 11 REGENT U. L. REV. 137 (1998-99). He has also authored supplements on biblical principles for use by his students in the law school classroom.

He lives in Mount Pleasant, Texas, with his wife, Lisa. They share three children, three children-in-love, and many beautiful grandchildren.

Michelle Williams

Coordinator, Law Student Ministries

Michelle Williams

Coordinator, Law Student Ministries

Michelle Williams graduated summa cum laude from Longwood University with a BS in therapeutic recreation and minor in abnormal psychology. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. In her career, Michelle has worked as a recreation therapist in various settings, including rehab, pediatric & psychiatric hospitals, drug and addiction services and with at risk youth, etc., and is a wilderness outdoor leader.

She was in long term care for 13 years and was the national peer team leader for Erickson retirement communities. She produced training videos for CMS and then ventured into home health and hospice. It was her honor to design a home health program, which she presented to federal recovery coordinators and received approval by the medical chiefs of staff, enabling the most critically wounded warriors from Operation Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and Operation New Dawn to go home to their families.

Her most recent work has been in disability advocacy. Currently, she is the ministry site director for Youth for Christ at Fort Belvoir Army base. Michelle volunteers in her community facilitating combat trauma recovery courses focusing on the moral and spiritual wounds of war. She has been involved in lay ministry for over 20 years, some of which include jail, evangelism, singles, motorcyclist ministry, and Deacon, along with being a board member of multiple organizations. She is a Christian Life and Leadership coach. Her honors include National Academic All American, Academic All American, silver star award recipient for being a top producer in NE region.

Her greatest honor is being a mom of two and a new nana. Her greatest passions are serving our Lord and justice. Her favorite recreation pursuit is riding her horse.

Do You Need Help?

Christian Legal Society offers legal assistance for those in need through CLS’ network of Christian Legal Aid clinics and Christian Attorneys’ directory. CLS’ Center for Law & Religious Freedom is also available to address issues related to the infringement of religious freedom.

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