Dinner with opposing counsel, the Annual Law & Religion Roundtable, and the Libertas workshop on religious freedom

The St. Thomas More Society in Richmond held a belated celebration of our patron's feast day (June 22) this morning. Bishop DiLorenzo celebrated Mass and we had a nice breakfast together afterwards. Among other benefits, this provided the opportunity to catch up with a former student who is practicing in Richmond and enjoying it. We ended up talking a bit about professionalism and about his generally (but not uniformly) positive experience in dealing with opposing counsel. He relayed what he had heard recently about the practice of a greatly respected lawyer at the beginning of cases. This lawyer (a litigator) makes it a practice at the outset of a big case of extending a dinner invitation to opposing counsel (expenses paid by the inviter if acceptable to invitee) at the place of opposing counsel's choice, with the only condition being that they not discuss the case. The idea is that it is easier to treat each other with respect and professionalism if we know each other as human beings and not just as opposing counsel.

The insight behind this practice is on my mind as I reflect on the Annual Law & Religion Roundtable (previously discussed by Rick and Michael Moreland) and the Libertas workshop on religious freedom (previously discussed by Marc and Michael Scaperlanda). For me, a valuable aspect of both conferences was the opportunity to get to know law professors and others with an interest in law and religion on a more personal level. I am grateful for the substantive engagement, analysis, and insight, as well. But personal interactions supply something that no amount of reading and writing and solitary thinking can. 

Some of those I met or had the opportunity to renew acquaintance with are people with whom I have disagreed, presently disagree, or will at some point in the future disagree, maybe even deeply, on substantive matters of law and political morality; I hope our time together had something of the effect aimed for by the wise lawyer who dines with opposing counsel at the outset of an engagement. There were also some old friends and other fellow travelers; it was good to reconnect in person. And others fit in neither category, such that the best part was meeting for the first time.

There were different kinds of ideological diversity at each gathering. The differences at ALRR were more ideological than disciplinary, while the differences at Libertas were more disciplinary than ideological. At both there was a kind of unease and sense that things are not going very well, though the reasons why varied among participants. I hope to say more about the content of what was discussed, which was often rich and challenging. For the moment, however, I will stick with expressing gratitude to the organizers of and participants in both gatherings--particularly the organizers. I hope that organizers and participants alike find future gatherings worthwhile, notwithstanding the strong polarizing forces at work and currents of distrust seemingly causing separation and distance.