A High School Course for the Discerning Future Lawyer

Reflections on the Living Tradition This is dummy title and will be replaced with real title of your post by admin December 29, 2025 Antonecchia, Marc L. “A High School Course for the Discerning Future Lawyer.” Jesuit Educational Quarterly , 2nd ser., 1, no. 4 (2025): 653–663. https://doi.org/10.51238/0a874PZ .

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Download PDF <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://jesuitsourcesdigital.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/244/2025/01/jeq-cover-mockup-683x1024.jpg" alt="Image of JEQ cover" srcset="https://jesuitsourcesdigital.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/244/2025/01/jeq-cover-mockup-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://jesuitsourcesdigital.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/244/2025/01/jeq-cover-mockup-200x300.jpg 200w, https://jesuitsourcesdigital.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/244/2025/01/jeq-cover-mockup-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://jesuitsourcesdigital.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/244/2025/01/jeq-cover-mockup-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://jesuitsourcesdigital.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/244/2025/01/jeq-cover-mockup-600x900.jpg 600w, https://jesuitsourcesdigital.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/244/2025/01/jeq-cover-mockup-750x1125.jpg 750w, https://jesuitsourcesdigital.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/244/2025/01/jeq-cover-mockup-1140x1710.jpg 1140w, https://jesuitsourcesdigital.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/244/2025/01/jeq-cover-mockup.jpg 1200w" /> 13 SHARES 164 VIEWS Abstract Full Article References Metadata Cite Abstract Full Article The Jesuit philosopher Benet Perera, S.J., considered various aspects of a person’s intellect, including inborn talent, judgment, and memory. Perera surmised that “the study of law above all calls for an excellence of memory.” [1] Perera was correct, but only to a point. If writing today, Perera might have followed the Jesuit precept of adapting his view to meet the times, persons, and circumstances. [2] Indeed, today’s American lawyer needs to embody not only memory, but each of the intellectual aspects—most of all good judgment.

The practice of law is a vital tool to shape society, resolve disputes of all varieties, and maintain order. When utilized properly, it benefits individuals, institutions, society, and the environment in substantial ways. The law even permeates many of the everyday activities of the faculty, administrators, and trustees at our Jesuit schools. Indeed, if Ignatius and the first companions teleported into today, they would certainly need good lawyers to aid in their educational and other primary missions. [3] They would engage construction lawyers to aid in the building of schools, insurance lawyers to make claims for Pierre Favre’s and Francis Xavier’s aching feet, employment lawyers to prepare contracts with lay collaborators, copyright lawyers to protect against infringement of their letters, [4] and maybe even a personal injury lawyer to pursue money damages for errant cannonballs!

From its beginnings, the Society of Jesus was no stranger to the fact that laws, rules, and regulations are both important and controversial. Ignatius believed that a set of rules was necessary for the Society’s continuity, noting their necessity “to aid us to proceed better, in conformity with our Institute, along the path of divine service on which we have entered.” [5] As a result, he spent the last several years before his death collaborating with Juan Alfonso de Polanco to draft The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus . [6] Some other early Jesuits opposed a rigid set of complex legalistic rules as stifling the Jesuit ministry. [7] One of Ignatius’s first companions, Nicolás Bobadilla, deemed the Constitutions “a labyrinth altogether confused,” opining that “no one, either subject or superior, can come to know them, much less to observe them.” [8] But Ignatius embraced the notion that a group of men spread across the globe needed human regulation in addition to divine intervention.

The Jesuit Constitutions are, of course, completely different in style, substance, and purpose than the United States Constitution or the foundational documents of other nations and organizations. But they do provide a unique insight into how Ignatius was prescient in recognizing the need to balance the dichotomy of growing an institute rooted in uniformity while permitting adaptation, accommodation, and modification when warranted. Sprinkled throughout the Constitutions are the qualifiers that rigid rules may be adapted to “times, persons, and other such factors” that are conducive to achieve the end, [9] and that Jesuit conformity is to be exercised “as far as possible.” [10]

Ignatius and the first companions recognized that, in contrast to the Rules of the more localized monastic and mendicant orders, the apostolic (and thus unpredictable) missions of the Society required flexibility. [11] John O’Malley, S.J., considers the Formula as the predecessor of many documents (including the Constitutions) that “qualify the directives with escape clauses,” [12] and historian John Bossy observed: “few religious superiors can have told members of their order to firmly forget the rules and do what they thought best.” [13] Taken to its extreme, such accommodatio could lead to what is colloquially referred to as “the exception swallowing the rule.” But Ignatius had imposed an important guardrail to prevent unfettered accommodation, insofar as the power to dispense with a rule rested with the superior general. [14]

Returning our discussion to the modern classroom, there are courses and academic concentrations that are designated “pre-law”—including at Jesuit undergraduate institutions. These programs tend to provide grounding in certain legal principles, including substantive and procedural issues. But perhaps it would be useful to look at the law in a slightly different perspective to highlight that its study and practice do—or at least should—embody many of the pedagogical principles and theories that the Jesuits have explored, advocated, and practiced over several centuries. In fact, our high school students may benefit from a social studies elective course that looks at the American legal system, and those lawyers who practice within it, through a unique perspective—the Jesuit lens.

In the spirit of Jesuit adaptability, this particular class need not be subject to a rigid curriculum in the style of the Ratio Studiorum. [15] One approach may be to implement a method utilized—but not invented—by Jesuits [16] that blends an instructor’s praelectiones (lectures) focusing on topics such as rhetoric, classical language, and social justice with the students’ exercitationes (exercises) of oratory and writing that analyze various fact patterns. The class could consist of sections divided according to the four-quarter structure used at many Jesuit high schools. [17] And a school outside of the United States could implement the course by adapting the content to focus on the legal system of the jurisdiction in which that school is located.

What might such a course look like?

The First Quarter: The Humanistic Underpinnings of a Good Person Skilled in Speaking To borrow a phrase from Cicero, the theme of the first quarter would be “ Vir bonus, dicendi peritus. ” [18] Lawyers use words to craft their arguments, so what better place to start than an examination of those classical thinkers who debated the proper way to use words? Even today, there are lawyers who resemble the Sophists by using their skills to argue either side of an issue. [19] The first few weeks of the course would focus on examining the writings of philosophers such as Isocrates, who advocated using speech to address the urgent concerns of society. [20] Jesuits looked to such thinkers to support their idea of creating model citizens of character, [21] namely leaders who not only advocated truth but sought the betterment of society (for the greater glory of God, of course).

Lawyers are the rhetoricians of today. Thus, they are the perfect candidates to strive for the Jesuit ideal of eloquentia perfecta (perfect eloquence) in their advocacy on behalf of clients in the courtroom and elsewhere. Blended into this examination of the “perfect eloquence” could be a discussion about how lawyers need to be cognizant about the importance of connecting with their audiences (including clients, judges, juries, and opposing counsel) more so than writing and speaking in “legalese.” Indeed, in creating a connection with a person he was trying to win over for the greater service of God, Ignatius stressed the importance that “we go in his door and come out our own.” [22] The first quarter would culminate in an examination of the concepts of veritas (truth) and pietas (piety), and why the lawyer should utilize the former as an uncompromising baseline while ultimately striving for the latter as the ideal.

The Second Quarter: The Good Person Meets the Legal System The second quarter attempts to place the individual that we considered in the first quarter—skilled in speaking and writing—into the American legal system. In the guidance of the Jesuit pedagogue, Joseph de Jouvancy, S.J. (1643–1719), the teacher “should do nothing under the guidance of reckless and hot-headed impulse, but early on he should think over everything inwardly and with God himself first.” [23] Jouvancy’s guidance could just as well be directed to the American lawyer. While any discussion of modern-day lawyers will include a glimpse at unfortunate stereotypes (such as the aggressive unethical “ambulance chaser” or the unduly overaggressive “pitbull”) and such negative connotations attract much attention in the media, the converse is where the Ciceronian (and Jesuit) hero resides—whether it be protecting civil liberties, providing pro bono legal services, or advocating for social justice.

The patron saint of lawyers, Thomas More, observed in Utopia , “They have no lawyers among them, for they consider them as a sort of people whose profession it is to disguise matters.” [24] Thus, the lessons of this quarter emphasize that a lawyer must overcome More’s critique and be a role model who, like the Jesuit teacher, is not only learned but also devoted—especially to their clients but most of all to the truth. Because it is difficult for a client to take advice from a lawyer who appears less than virtuous, who the lawyer is as a person is important, more so than for some other professions. Similar to the Jesuit preference for members who possessed an honorable appearance, [25] one way for lawyers to dispel negative stereotypes is to understand that they are constantly evaluated by clients, opposing counsel, judges, and juries. Jesuits realized that they could not effectively minister if they were sick themselves. [26] So too, lawyers cannot advocate effectively if they become “infected” with the vices often associated with overwork, or if they compartmentalize their work and faith in a way that compromises integrity.

In this quarter, the student will appreciate that the ideal lawyer embodies Antonio Possevino’s notion of a self-reflective and goal oriented person (who, with some luck and prayer, may be able to do God’s work through their professional duties). [27] The best way to gain insight into this area is to look not only at how the law may be used for good, but by examining the characteristics of the virtuous lawyer. Where better to start than with Ignatius himself? Even though he lived more than four centuries ago and was not a lawyer, there is much that the modern-day American lawyer may imitate. As described by one Jesuit lawyer and educator:

Ignatius’s life might have looked a lot like our ordinary lives as lawyers, working away in our offices. Ignatius spent long years at a desk in Rome, refining the Spiritual Exercises , drafting the Jesuit Constitutions and administering a growing religious community. To the casual observer, his daily life and work undoubtedly looked pretty ordinary, just as our daily lives as lawyers often look pretty ordinary. Yet we can properly describe the life of Ignatius as extraordinary. [28]

Ignatius probably endured many of the challenges facing today’s lawyer, including stress and anxiety, and thus the lawyer may learn many lessons from Ignatius’s openness to responding to God’s call in his everyday (and sometime unexciting) work. [29] Clearly not every lawyer will be able to (and some will choose not to) integrate faith with their everyday work, but planting that possibility in the minds of those who are considering the law as a career is a step in the right direction. Beyond looking at Ignatius, the course may examine American Jesuit lawyers [30] and how they utilize courtesy, civility, and even camaraderie in a legal system predicated on an adversarial structure.

Acknowledging the reality that most students will not become Jesuit lawyers, the class could also look at lay colleagues who embody Jesuit ideals in their work as legal professionals. The instructor may wish to highlight individuals that have a connection to their local area. For instance, a school with a connection to New York might focus on John Feerick, who moved from a successful practice at a prominent law firm to serve as the dean of Fordham Law School to give back to the legal profession. Feerick, himself a graduate of Jesuit schools, promoted the rule of law through his authorship of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. He also encouraged engaging in service to others through his namesake Center for Social Justice at Fordham Law School, assisting those in need of humanitarian relief. [31] Such inspirational servant-leader lawyers exemplify the importance of exercising of mediocritas (moderation) over indiscreet zeal. [32]

The Third Quarter: The Good Person Engages with the Law Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., wrote that Ignatian pedagogy “challenges students to discernment of meaning in what they study through reflection rather than rote memory; it encourages adaptation which demands openness to growth in all of us.” [33] The lessons of the third quarter should leave no doubt that the American lawyer is better guided by Kolvenbach’s focus on reflection rather than Perera’s championing of memory. This quarter could be modeled along the lines of a traditional law school class, with an emphasis on reading and analyzing important written judicial decisions—including ones that speak to issues relating directly to Jesuit global apostolic preferences such as walking with the excluded and care for our common home. [34]

In tandem with analyzing decisions, the course may suggest ways in which a lawyer could use approaches that Jesuits have used to evaluate and advocate difficult issues. For example, James Keenan, S.J., utilized casuistry to assess the ethical question of whether a major league baseball pitcher who used human growth hormone to recover from an injury was more analogous to an athlete who had surgery to repair an injury or to an athlete who used performance enhancing drugs to gain an advantage. [35] Such an approach—analyzing how the facts of a particular issue compares to a paradigm case—has parallels to how lawyers in a common law system use prior decisions as precedential and persuasive authority to advocate their clients’ positions. At the same time, the student should be cautioned that advocacy—like casuistry [36] —has its limits.

The Fourth Quarter: The Student Imitates the Good Person Through Advocacy We have reached the point in the class where it is appropriate to implement the advice of Ignatius: “And above all take care that they imitate Cicero and the other authors you are teaching them in class, because this constitutes the fruit of their studies.” [37]

In the fourth quarter, the students could analyze a legal issue (possibly with social justice implications) and utilize statutes and case law decisions to prepare a legal memorandum and participate in oral argument. In a nod to spirited Jesuit competition and theater, the students could be paired in order to advocate opposite sides of the issue. [38] But there do not need to be clear winners and losers emerging from this exercise (there will be plenty of opportunities for that if the student actually enters the legal profession!). Instead, the disputation would afford the students an opportunity to emulate vir bonus, dicendi peritus (a good person, skilled in speaking) through eloquence, poise, confidence, and civility. Thomas More, for one, likely would have invoked Article 7 of the Instructio to champion those students who “stand out to others both by the integrity of their principles and solid Christian values.” [39]

One of the goals of this exercise should be to highlight that it is not simply enough for a lawyer to have a “winning argument.” Beyond that, the aspiring lawyer should be guided by Jesuit Global Identifier #9, which strives for: “women and men of conscience, compassion, commitment and competence;” [40] a conscience to recognize society and its imbalances; [41] compassion to be in solidarity with the suffering of others; [42] commitment to strive for justice through peaceful means; [43] and competence by developing the intellectual, academic, emotional, and social skills required for professional and human achievement. [44] Striving to meet these identifiers does not mean that every aspiring lawyer has to be on a path to engage in those types of legal practices that typically are viewed as “saving the world.” Instead, any and every lawyer, whether representing the poorest individual or the wealthiest corporation, is well served by honoring these precepts—with magnanimity. [45]

Beyond the Course: The Lawyer and AMDG —Utilizing Law for the Universal Good In his 1979 Dialogue with Alumni of Jesuit Schools, Father General Pedro Arrupe said: “Look, St. Ignatius used to say, 450 years ago, that ‘the more universal the good, the more divine it is.’” [46] Whether to pursue a legal education is an important decision for someone in their twenties (or older, as was Ignatius when he relaunched his own educational pursuits), [47] and one that should be made after a careful process of using one’s own experience to reflect and discern.

Discernment is not a consideration of choosing between a good and bad option but rather weighing two potentially good options. And such decisions, if made by Christians for the purpose of determining what serves God, are ultimately trying to discern God’s will. [48] Thus, part of the goal of the class will be to help the student who may have several viable career options and callings discern whether the study of law is the better choice for them. And in the context of a Jesuit education, underlying this discernment process is what better helps the student to “develop skills and motivations that would later enable them to lead satisfying lives and be responsible and constructive agents in their towns, cities countries—in the Church and the word at large.” [49]

There are certainly many reasons to pursue a legal education. But how can this high school course help with the process of discernment? It would not be a pre-law class in the traditional sense where the typical student is well advanced in deciding their career goal. Instead, it would hopefully serve as an early guidepost to help the student recognize whether a career in law is right for them—and, maybe more importantly—how one’s faith can serve an active role in the aspiring lawyer’s personal and professional development in the service of others. Guided by examples of virtuous lawyers, sound judgment, eloquent speaking, and concise writing, this course may lead the student to a greater understanding of how—in the Jesuit way of proceeding—such a decision serves the magis . [50]

Notes: [1] An English translation of Perera’s “Best Practices in Humanistic Studies” (1564) is found in Cristiano Casalini and Claude Pavur, S.J., eds. Jesuit Pedagogy, 1540–1616: A Reader (Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2016), 191–204.

[2] The Society’s foundational documents reflect the dichotomous concepts of uniformity and adaptation. Ignatius laid the groundwork with his views on prayer, in which “freedom and flexibility are the norm” and “structure is imposed only in those situations where it is conducive to freedom.” See Ignatius of Loyola, A Pilgrim’s Testament , ed. Barton T. Geger, S.J. (Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2020), 8. Elsewhere, Ignatius affirmed that regulations were adaptable in light of unique times, places, and persons. See Ignatius of Loyola, Constitutions of the Society of Jesus: A Critical Edition with the Complementary Norms , ed. Barton T. Geger., S.J. (Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2024), 23.

[3] For a discussion of the primary missions of the early Jesuits, see John O’Malley, S.J., The First Jesuits (Harvard University Press, 1993).

[4] In addition to well-known correspondence between Ignatius and his fellow Jesuits, there is a fascinating collection of thousands of letters written by Jesuits to their superiors applying for overseas missions. See Emanuele Colombo, “From Paper to Screen. The Digital Indipetae Database, a New Resource for Jesuit Studies,” Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu 89 (2020): 213–30.

[5] Ignatius, Constitutions, 127.

[6] Claudio Ferlan, The Jesuits. A Thematic History (Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2023), 16.

[7] Ignatius, Constitutions , 19.

[8] See Richard J. Baumann, S.J., “Our Jesuit Constitutions: Cooperation as Union,” Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits 49, no. 4 (2017): 1–40, at 1.

[9] Ignatius, Constitutions, 197–98.

[10] Ignatius, Constitutions , 172.

[11] Ignatius, Constitutions , 23.

[12] John W. O’Malley, S.J., “The Distinctiveness of the Society of Jesus , ” Journal of Jesuit Studies 3, no. 1 (2016): 5.

[13] O’Malley, “Distinctiveness,” 5, quoting John Bossy, “Editor’s Postscript,” in H. Outram Evennett, The Spirit of the Counter-Reformation , ed. John Bossy (Cambridge University Press, 1968), 130.

[14] Ignatius, Constitutions , 320.

[15] The Ratio Studiorum was the official and definitive plan of studies that the Society of Jesus implemented in 1599. For a more complete discussion, see Casalini and Pavur, Jesuit Pedagogy , 17–20.

[16] The Jesuit educational method was derived from the modus parisiensis (the Parisian method), organized according to the “Parisian trio” of lectures, reviews, and exercises. See Casalini and Pavur, Jesuit Pedagogy , 24–25.

[17] The content of the course could be redesigned for schools that are on a trimester calendar or further modified to be an extracurricular activity geared toward students interested in the law.

[18] The concept of “a good man, skilled in speaking” is explained in John W. O’Malley, S.J., “How Humanistic is the Jesuit Tradition? From the 1599 Ratio Studiorum to Now,” in Jesuit Education 21: Conference Proceedings on the Future of Jesuit Higher Education , ed. Martin R. Tripole, S.J., (St. Joseph’s University Press, 2000), 189–201.

[19] Plato’s criticism of Sophists as being indifferent to ethical questions is referenced, for instance, in John W. O’Malley, S.J., “‘Not for Ourselves Alone’: Rhetorical Education in the Jesuit Mode with Five Bullet Points for Today,” Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education 43, Article 4 (2013): 3.

[20] Isocrates is quoted as saying, “The proper use of language is the surest index of sound understanding.” O’Malley, “Not for Ourselves Alone,” 4.

[21] Jesuits chose to run schools that focused on the human development of the student rather than the development of professional and technical skills. Casalini and Pavur, Jesuit Pedagogy , 4.

[22] Ignatius of Loyola, “To Alfonso Salmerón and Paschase Broët, early September 1541,” in Ignatius of Loyola: Letters and Instructions , trans. Martin E. Palmer, S.J., ed. John W. Padberg, S.J., and John L. McCarthy, S.J. (Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2006), 66.

[23] Joseph de Jouvancy, S.J., The Way to Learn and the Way to Teach , ed. Cristiano Casalini and Claude Pavur, S.J. (Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2020), 243.

[24] Thomas More, Utopia , ed. Henry Morley (Project Gutenberg, 2000), “Of Their Slaves, and of Their Marriages,” para. 10.

[25] The concept of an honorable appearance ( species honesta ), and the related concept of a sound mind in a sound body ( mens sana in corpore sano ) is examined in Cristiano Casalini , “Active Leisure: The Body in Sixteenth-Century Jesuit Culture , ” Journal of Jesuit Studies 1, no. 3 (2014): 400–418, https://doi.org/10.1163/22141332-00103003 .

[26] Ignatius, Constitutions , 91.

[27] Possevino’s theories of cultura ingeniorum (cultivation of the individual spirit) are discussed in Paul Richard Blum, “Psychology and Culture of the Intellect: Ignatius of Loyola and Antonio Possevino,” in Cognitive Psychology in Early Jesuit Scholasticism , ed. Daniel Heider (Editiones Scholasticae, 2016), 12–37.

[28] This quote and other thought-provoking ideas about how lawyers today may use the guidance of Ignatian spirituality are found in Gregory A. Kalscheur, S.J., “Ignatian Spirituality and the Life of the Lawyer: Finding God in All Things—Even in the Ordinary Practice of the Law,” Journal of Catholic Legal Studies 46, no. 1 (2007): 28.

[29] Writing as superior general, Ignatius reminded scholastics not to abandon their studies because “slackness, tepidity, and lethargy in studies and in your other activities for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, these you must recognize as sworn enemies of your goal.” Ignatius of Loyola, “To the Fathers and Scholastics at Coimbra, Rome, May 7, 1547,” in Letters and Instructions, ed. John W. Padberg, S.J., and John C. McCarthy S.J., trans. Martin E. Palmer, 167.

[30] One of several examples is the American Jesuit lawyer, Nathaniel Romano, S.J. See Nate Romano, S.J., “A Jesuit Lawyer,” Jesuits West, November 16, 2015, https://www.jesuitsmidwest.org/stories/a-jesuit-lawyer/ .

[31] For an overview of some of Dean Feerick’s accomplishments, see Matthew Diller, “John Feerick: The 25th Amendment With the Man Who Lived Through It All,” The Federal Lawyer , August 2018, 55–56, https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Diller-pdf-1.pdf ; and “In Their Element: Dean John Feerick,” Fordham Lawyer (Winter/Spring 2023), https://digital.law.fordham.edu/issue/winter-spring-2023/dean-john-feerick/ .

[32] Ignatius counseled Jesuit scholastics to strive for a “discerning moderation.” Ignatius of Loyola, “To the Fathers and Scholastics at Coimbra, Rome, May 7, 1547,” in Letters and Instructions, 172.

[33] Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., “Ignatian Pedagogy Today,” in Ignatian Pedagogy : A Practical Approach (International Commission on the Apostolate of Jesuit Education, 1993), Appendix 2, https://www.sjweb.info/documents/education/pedagogy_en.pdf .

[34] Arturo Sosa, S.J., “Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus, 2019–2029,” letter to the Society of Jesus, February 19, 2019, https://www.jesuits.global/sj_files/2020/05/2019-06_19feb19_eng.pdf .

[35] Malcolm Gladwell, “The Standard Case,” Revisionist History , Season 4, Episode 5, https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/the-standard-case .

[36] Pope Francis criticized the use of casuistry in certain contexts, including faith. See Pope Francis, “Morning Meditation in the Chapel of Domus Sanctae Marthae ,” L’Osservatore Romano (Weekly ed. in English, n.10, March 10, 2017), https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/cotidie/2017/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20170224_justice-and-mercy.html .

[37] Ignatius offered this advice to a fellow Jesuit in his letter “Teaching Composition” (1554), in Casalini and Pavur, Jesuit Pedagogy , 241–42.

[38] The earliest Jesuit schools began a tradition of competition to foster active engagement for the student to create something on their own, even though based on the example of other “exemplary authorities.” Casalini and Pavur, Jesuit Pedagogy , 26.

[39] For an overview of the Instructio as an influential Jesuit educational document, see A. Taiga Guterres, “Articulating a Jesuit Philosophy of Education in the Twentieth Century: A Critical Translation and Commentary on the Instructio of 1934 and 1948,” Jesuit Educational Quarterly , 2nd ser., 1, no. 1 (2025): 73–114, https://doi.org/10.51238/1ZnRn8z .

[40] The International Commission on the Apostolate on Jesuit Education (ICAJE), Jesuit Schools: A Living Tradition in the 21st Century (General Curia of the Society of Jesus, 2019), 81.

[41] ICAJE, Jesuit Schools , 81.

[42] ICAJE, Jesuit Schools , 81.

[43] ICAJE, Jesuit Schools , 82.

[44] ICAJE, Jesuit Schools , 82.

[45] One of the personal virtues valued by Jesuits. See Ignatius, Constitutions , 25.

[46] Pedro Arrupe, Other Apostolates Today: Selected Letters and Addresses III , ed. Jerome Aixala (Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1981), 108.

[47] For a discussion of Ignatius’s recognition of the importance of education at a “later” age, see Claude Pavur, S.J., “Ignatius of Loyola Takes Up Latin Grammar—Why It Matters,” Jesuit Educational Quarterly, 2nd ser., 1, no. 1 (2025): 59–71, https://doi.org/10.51238/NTCBBgJ .

[48] For a discussion on discernment of God’s will, see Ignatius, A Pilgrim’s Testament , 12.

[49] See John W. O’Malley, S.J., “Jesuit Schools and The Humanities Yesterday and Today,” Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits 47 no. 1 (2015): 12. O’Malley also emphasizes that Jesuit education in the humanist tradition strives to inculcate good judgment. See O’Malley, “Jesuit Schools,” 31.

[50] For a compelling argument on defining magis as “the more universal good,” see Barton T. Geger, S.J., “What Magis Really Means and Why It Matters,” Jesuit Higher Education 1, no. 2 (2012): 16–31.

References Arrupe, Pedro. Other Apostolates Today: Selected Letters and Addresses III . Edited by Jerome Aixala. Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1981.

Baumann, Richard J., S.J. “Our Jesuit Constitutions: Cooperation as Union.” Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits 49, no. 4 (2017): 1–40.

Blum, Paul Richard. “Psychology and Culture of the Intellect: Ignatius of Loyola and Antonio Possevino.” In Cognitive Psychology in Early Jesuit Scholasticism . Edited by Daniel Heider Editiones Scholasticae, 2016.

Casalini, Cristiano. “Active Leisure: The Body in Sixteenth-Century Jesuit Culture . ” Journal of Jesuit Studies 1 (2014): 400–418. https://doi.org/10.1163/22141332-00103003 .

Colombo, Emanuele. “From Paper to Screen. The Digital Indipetae Database, a New Resource for Jesuit Studies.” Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu 89 (2020): 213–30.

Evennett, H. Outram. The Spirit of the Counter-Reformation . Edited by John Bossy. Cambridge University Press, 1968.

Ferlan, Claudio. The Jesuits. A Thematic History. Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2023.

Francis. “Morning Meditation in the Chapel of Domus Sanctae Marthae .” L’Osservatore Romano . Weekly ed. in English, n.10, March 10, 2017. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/cotidie/2017/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20170224_justice-and-mercy.html .

Geger, Barton T., S.J. “What Magis Really Means and Why It Matters.” Jesuit Higher Education 1, no. 2 (2012): 16–31.

Gladwell, Malcolm. “The Standard Case.” Revisionist History , Season 4, Episode 5. https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/the-standard-case .

Guterres, A. Taiga. “Articulating a Jesuit Philosophy of Education in the Twentieth Century: A Critical Translation and Commentary on the Instructio of 1934 and 1948.” Jesuit Educational Quarterly , 2nd ser., 1, no. 1 (2025): 73–114. https://doi.org/10.51238/1ZnRn8z .

Ignatius of Loyola. A Pilgrim’s Testament . Edited by Barton T. Geger, S.J. Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2020.

Ignatius of Loyola. Constitutions of the Society of Jesus: A Critical Edition with the Complementary Norms . Edited by Barton T. Geger., S.J. Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2024.

Ignatius of Loyola. “Teaching Composition.” In Jesuit Pedagogy, 1540–1616: A Reader . Edited by Cristiano Casalini and Claude Pavur, S.J. Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2016.

Ignatius of Loyola. “To Alfonso Salmerón and Paschase Broët, early September 1541.” In Ignatius of Loyola: Letters and Instructions . Edited by John W. Padberg, S.J., and John C. McCarthy S.J. Translated by Martin E. Palmer. Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2006.

Ignatius of Loyola. “To the Fathers and Scholastics at Coimbra, Rome, May 7, 1547.” In Letters and Instructions. Edited by John W. Padberg, S.J., and John C. McCarthy S.J. Translated by Martin E. Palmer. Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2006.

International Commission on the Apostolate on Jesuit Education (ICAJE). Jesuit Schools: A Living Tradition in the 21st Century. General Curia of the Society of Jesus, 2019.

Jouvancy, Joseph de, S.J. The Way to Learn and the Way to Teach . Edited by Cristiano Casalini and Claude Pavur, S.J. Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2020.

Kalscheur, Gregory A., S.J. “Ignatian Spirituality and the Life of the Lawyer: Finding God in All Things—Even in the Ordinary Practice of the Law.” Journal of Catholic Legal Studies 46, no. 1 (2007): 7–28.

Kolvenbach, Peter–Hans, S.J. “Ignatian Pedagogy Today.” In Ignatian Pedagogy: A Practical Approach. International Commission on the Apostolate on Jesuit, 1993. https://www.sjweb.info/documents/education/pedagogy_en.pdf .

O’Malley, John W., S.J. “How Humanistic is the Jesuit Tradition? From the 1599 Ratio Studiorum to Now.” In Jesuit Education 21: Conference Proceedings on the Future of Jesuit Higher Education . Edited by Martin R. Tripole, S.J. St. Joseph’s University Press, 2000.

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The Jesuit philosopher Benet Perera, S.J., considered various aspects of a person’s intellect, including inborn talent, judgment, and memory. Perera surmised that “the study of law above all calls for an excellence of memory.” [1] Perera was correct, but only to a point. If writing today, Perera might have followed the Jesuit precept of adapting his view to meet the times, persons, and circumstances. [2] Indeed, today’s American lawyer needs to embody not only memory, but each of the intellectual aspects—most of all good judgment.

The practice of law is a vital tool to shape society, resolve disputes of all varieties, and maintain order. When utilized properly, it benefits individuals, institutions, society, and the environment in substantial ways. The law even permeates many of the everyday activities of the faculty, administrators, and trustees at our Jesuit schools. Indeed, if Ignatius and the first companions teleported into today, they would certainly need good lawyers to aid in their educational and other primary missions. [3] They would engage construction lawyers to aid in the building of schools, insurance lawyers to make claims for Pierre Favre’s and Francis Xavier’s aching feet, employment lawyers to prepare contracts with lay collaborators, copyright lawyers to protect against infringement of their letters, [4] and maybe even a personal injury lawyer to pursue money damages for errant cannonballs!

From its beginnings, the Society of Jesus was no stranger to the fact that laws, rules, and regulations are both important and controversial. Ignatius believed that a set of rules was necessary for the Society’s continuity, noting their necessity “to aid us to proceed better, in conformity with our Institute, along the path of divine service on which we have entered.” [5] As a result, he spent the last several years before his death collaborating with Juan Alfonso de Polanco to draft The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus . [6] Some other early Jesuits opposed a rigid set of complex legalistic rules as stifling the Jesuit ministry. [7] One of Ignatius’s first companions, Nicolás Bobadilla, deemed the Constitutions “a labyrinth altogether confused,” opining that “no one, either subject or superior, can come to know them, much less to observe them.” [8] But Ignatius embraced the notion that a group of men spread across the globe needed human regulation in addition to divine intervention.

The Jesuit Constitutions are, of course, completely different in style, substance, and purpose than the United States Constitution or the foundational documents of other nations and organizations. But they do provide a unique insight into how Ignatius was prescient in recognizing the need to balance the dichotomy of growing an institute rooted in uniformity while permitting adaptation, accommodation, and modification when warranted. Sprinkled throughout the Constitutions are the qualifiers that rigid rules may be adapted to “times, persons, and other such factors” that are conducive to achieve the end, [9] and that Jesuit conformity is to be exercised “as far as possible.” [10]

Ignatius and the first companions recognized that, in contrast to the Rules of the more localized monastic and mendicant orders, the apostolic (and thus unpredictable) missions of the Society required flexibility. [11] John O’Malley, S.J., considers the Formula as the predecessor of many documents (including the Constitutions) that “qualify the directives with escape clauses,” [12] and historian John Bossy observed: “few religious superiors can have told members of their order to firmly forget the rules and do what they thought best.” [13] Taken to its extreme, such accommodatio could lead to what is colloquially referred to as “the exception swallowing the rule.” But Ignatius had imposed an important guardrail to prevent unfettered accommodation, insofar as the power to dispense with a rule rested with the superior general. [14]

Returning our discussion to the modern classroom, there are courses and academic concentrations that are designated “pre-law”—including at Jesuit undergraduate institutions. These programs tend to provide grounding in certain legal principles, including substantive and procedural issues. But perhaps it would be useful to look at the law in a slightly different perspective to highlight that its study and practice do—or at least should—embody many of the pedagogical principles and theories that the Jesuits have explored, advocated, and practiced over several centuries. In fact, our high school students may benefit from a social studies elective course that looks at the American legal system, and those lawyers who practice within it, through a unique perspective—the Jesuit lens.

In the spirit of Jesuit adaptability, this particular class need not be subject to a rigid curriculum in the style of the Ratio Studiorum. [15] One approach may be to implement a method utilized—but not invented—by Jesuits [16] that blends an instructor’s praelectiones (lectures) focusing on topics such as rhetoric, classical language, and social justice with the students’ exercitationes (exercises) of oratory and writing that analyze various fact patterns. The class could consist of sections divided according to the four-quarter structure used at many Jesuit high schools. [17] And a school outside of the United States could implement the course by adapting the content to focus on the legal system of the jurisdiction in which that school is located.

What might such a course look like?

The First Quarter: The Humanistic Underpinnings of a Good Person Skilled in Speaking

To borrow a phrase from Cicero, the theme of the first quarter would be “ Vir bonus, dicendi peritus. ” [18] Lawyers use words to craft their arguments, so what better place to start than an examination of those classical thinkers who debated the proper way to use words? Even today, there are lawyers who resemble the Sophists by using their skills to argue either side of an issue. [19] The first few weeks of the course would focus on examining the writings of philosophers such as Isocrates, who advocated using speech to address the urgent concerns of society. [20] Jesuits looked to such thinkers to support their idea of creating model citizens of character, [21] namely leaders who not only advocated truth but sought the betterment of society (for the greater glory of God, of course).

Lawyers are the rhetoricians of today. Thus, they are the perfect candidates to strive for the Jesuit ideal of eloquentia perfecta (perfect eloquence) in their advocacy on behalf of clients in the courtroom and elsewhere. Blended into this examination of the “perfect eloquence” could be a discussion about how lawyers need to be cognizant about the importance of connecting with their audiences (including clients, judges, juries, and opposing counsel) more so than writing and speaking in “legalese.” Indeed, in creating a connection with a person he was trying to win over for the greater service of God, Ignatius stressed the importance that “we go in his door and come out our own.” [22] The first quarter would culminate in an examination of the concepts of veritas (truth) and pietas (piety), and why the lawyer should utilize the former as an uncompromising baseline while ultimately striving for the latter as the ideal.

The Second Quarter: The Good Person Meets the Legal System

The second quarter attempts to place the individual that we considered in the first quarter—skilled in speaking and writing—into the American legal system. In the guidance of the Jesuit pedagogue, Joseph de Jouvancy, S.J. (1643–1719), the teacher “should do nothing under the guidance of reckless and hot-headed impulse, but early on he should think over everything inwardly and with God himself first.” [23] Jouvancy’s guidance could just as well be directed to the American lawyer. While any discussion of modern-day lawyers will include a glimpse at unfortunate stereotypes (such as the aggressive unethical “ambulance chaser” or the unduly overaggressive “pitbull”) and such negative connotations attract much attention in the media, the converse is where the Ciceronian (and Jesuit) hero resides—whether it be protecting civil liberties, providing pro bono legal services, or advocating for social justice.

The patron saint of lawyers, Thomas More, observed in Utopia , “They have no lawyers among them, for they consider them as a sort of people whose profession it is to disguise matters.” [24] Thus, the lessons of this quarter emphasize that a lawyer must overcome More’s critique and be a role model who, like the Jesuit teacher, is not only learned but also devoted—especially to their clients but most of all to the truth. Because it is difficult for a client to take advice from a lawyer who appears less than virtuous, who the lawyer is as a person is important, more so than for some other professions. Similar to the Jesuit preference for members who possessed an honorable appearance, [25] one way for lawyers to dispel negative stereotypes is to understand that they are constantly evaluated by clients, opposing counsel, judges, and juries. Jesuits realized that they could not effectively minister if they were sick themselves. [26] So too, lawyers cannot advocate effectively if they become “infected” with the vices often associated with overwork, or if they compartmentalize their work and faith in a way that compromises integrity.

In this quarter, the student will appreciate that the ideal lawyer embodies Antonio Possevino’s notion of a self-reflective and goal oriented person (who, with some luck and prayer, may be able to do God’s work through their professional duties). [27] The best way to gain insight into this area is to look not only at how the law may be used for good, but by examining the characteristics of the virtuous lawyer. Where better to start than with Ignatius himself? Even though he lived more than four centuries ago and was not a lawyer, there is much that the modern-day American lawyer may imitate. As described by one Jesuit lawyer and educator:

Ignatius’s life might have looked a lot like our ordinary lives as lawyers, working away in our offices. Ignatius spent long years at a desk in Rome, refining the Spiritual Exercises , drafting the Jesuit Constitutions and administering a growing religious community. To the casual observer, his daily life and work undoubtedly looked pretty ordinary, just as our daily lives as lawyers often look pretty ordinary. Yet we can properly describe the life of Ignatius as extraordinary. [28]

Ignatius probably endured many of the challenges facing today’s lawyer, including stress and anxiety, and thus the lawyer may learn many lessons from Ignatius’s openness to responding to God’s call in his everyday (and sometime unexciting) work. [29] Clearly not every lawyer will be able to (and some will choose not to) integrate faith with their everyday work, but planting that possibility in the minds of those who are considering the law as a career is a step in the right direction. Beyond looking at Ignatius, the course may examine American Jesuit lawyers [30] and how they utilize courtesy, civility, and even camaraderie in a legal system predicated on an adversarial structure.

Acknowledging the reality that most students will not become Jesuit lawyers, the class could also look at lay colleagues who embody Jesuit ideals in their work as legal professionals. The instructor may wish to highlight individuals that have a connection to their local area. For instance, a school with a connection to New York might focus on John Feerick, who moved from a successful practice at a prominent law firm to serve as the dean of Fordham Law School to give back to the legal profession. Feerick, himself a graduate of Jesuit schools, promoted the rule of law through his authorship of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. He also encouraged engaging in service to others through his namesake Center for Social Justice at Fordham Law School, assisting those in need of humanitarian relief. [31] Such inspirational servant-leader lawyers exemplify the importance of exercising of mediocritas (moderation) over indiscreet zeal. [32]

The Third Quarter: The Good Person Engages with the Law

Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., wrote that Ignatian pedagogy “challenges students to discernment of meaning in what they study through reflection rather than rote memory; it encourages adaptation which demands openness to growth in all of us.” [33] The lessons of the third quarter should leave no doubt that the American lawyer is better guided by Kolvenbach’s focus on reflection rather than Perera’s championing of memory. This quarter could be modeled along the lines of a traditional law school class, with an emphasis on reading and analyzing important written judicial decisions—including ones that speak to issues relating directly to Jesuit global apostolic preferences such as walking with the excluded and care for our common home. [34]

In tandem with analyzing decisions, the course may suggest ways in which a lawyer could use approaches that Jesuits have used to evaluate and advocate difficult issues. For example, James Keenan, S.J., utilized casuistry to assess the ethical question of whether a major league baseball pitcher who used human growth hormone to recover from an injury was more analogous to an athlete who had surgery to repair an injury or to an athlete who used performance enhancing drugs to gain an advantage. [35] Such an approach—analyzing how the facts of a particular issue compares to a paradigm case—has parallels to how lawyers in a common law system use prior decisions as precedential and persuasive authority to advocate their clients’ positions. At the same time, the student should be cautioned that advocacy—like casuistry [36] —has its limits.

The Fourth Quarter: The Student Imitates the Good Person Through Advocacy

We have reached the point in the class where it is appropriate to implement the advice of Ignatius: “And above all take care that they imitate Cicero and the other authors you are teaching them in class, because this constitutes the fruit of their studies.” [37]

In the fourth quarter, the students could analyze a legal issue (possibly with social justice implications) and utilize statutes and case law decisions to prepare a legal memorandum and participate in oral argument. In a nod to spirited Jesuit competition and theater, the students could be paired in order to advocate opposite sides of the issue. [38] But there do not need to be clear winners and losers emerging from this exercise (there will be plenty of opportunities for that if the student actually enters the legal profession!). Instead, the disputation would afford the students an opportunity to emulate vir bonus, dicendi peritus (a good person, skilled in speaking) through eloquence, poise, confidence, and civility. Thomas More, for one, likely would have invoked Article 7 of the Instructio to champion those students who “stand out to others both by the integrity of their principles and solid Christian values.” [39]

One of the goals of this exercise should be to highlight that it is not simply enough for a lawyer to have a “winning argument.” Beyond that, the aspiring lawyer should be guided by Jesuit Global Identifier #9, which strives for: “women and men of conscience, compassion, commitment and competence;” [40] a conscience to recognize society and its imbalances; [41] compassion to be in solidarity with the suffering of others; [42] commitment to strive for justice through peaceful means; [43] and competence by developing the intellectual, academic, emotional, and social skills required for professional and human achievement. [44] Striving to meet these identifiers does not mean that every aspiring lawyer has to be on a path to engage in those types of legal practices that typically are viewed as “saving the world.” Instead, any and every lawyer, whether representing the poorest individual or the wealthiest corporation, is well served by honoring these precepts—with magnanimity. [45]

Beyond the Course: The Lawyer and AMDG —Utilizing Law for the Universal Good

In his 1979 Dialogue with Alumni of Jesuit Schools, Father General Pedro Arrupe said: “Look, St. Ignatius used to say, 450 years ago, that ‘the more universal the good, the more divine it is.’” [46] Whether to pursue a legal education is an important decision for someone in their twenties (or older, as was Ignatius when he relaunched his own educational pursuits), [47] and one that should be made after a careful process of using one’s own experience to reflect and discern.

Discernment is not a consideration of choosing between a good and bad option but rather weighing two potentially good options. And such decisions, if made by Christians for the purpose of determining what serves God, are ultimately trying to discern God’s will. [48] Thus, part of the goal of the class will be to help the student who may have several viable career options and callings discern whether the study of law is the better choice for them. And in the context of a Jesuit education, underlying this discernment process is what better helps the student to “develop skills and motivations that would later enable them to lead satisfying lives and be responsible and constructive agents in their towns, cities countries—in the Church and the word at large.” [49]

There are certainly many reasons to pursue a legal education. But how can this high school course help with the process of discernment? It would not be a pre-law class in the traditional sense where the typical student is well advanced in deciding their career goal. Instead, it would hopefully serve as an early guidepost to help the student recognize whether a career in law is right for them—and, maybe more importantly—how one’s faith can serve an active role in the aspiring lawyer’s personal and professional development in the service of others. Guided by examples of virtuous lawyers, sound judgment, eloquent speaking, and concise writing, this course may lead the student to a greater understanding of how—in the Jesuit way of proceeding—such a decision serves the magis . [50]

[1] An English translation of Perera’s “Best Practices in Humanistic Studies” (1564) is found in Cristiano Casalini and Claude Pavur, S.J., eds. Jesuit Pedagogy, 1540–1616: A Reader (Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2016), 191–204.