On February 27, The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law (Catholic Law) hosted Brian Svoboda, partner, Perkins Coie LLP, and Director, Law and Public Policy Program, Catholic Law, as part of its Faith in Action lecture series. Elizabeth Kirk, Director of the Center for Law and the Human Person at Catholic Law, welcomed everyone and introduced Svoboda.

Svoboda’s address, entitled “Winning Daily Battles”, focused on receiving grace and developing a life of prayer while facing the professional demands of life as a lawyer serving politically active clients. Emphasizing the importance of daily mental prayer, Svoboda discussed how one can pursue a fulfilling life even amidst the most strenuous aspects of practicing law. While acknowledging to a room full of law students that legal practice can cause stress and worry, he argued that such worrying can be transformed into a faithful pursuit of God’s will. He talked about how regular prayer—which he described as a honest, persistent conversation with God—can help a lawyer live authentically while meeting his or her professional obligations. Svoboda emphasized also the need for charity in dealing with others, which can be among the fruits of regular prayer.

Svoboda recommended four books that were influential in his own journey of faith: The Priority of Christ by Bishop Robert Barron, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives by Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Partnership with Christ by Eugene Boylan, and He Knows Not How by Julio Dieguez.

The Faith in Action lecture series, an initiative of Catholic Law’s Center for Law and the Human Person, seeks to provide students with living witnesses to the integration of faith and the legal profession. Its upcoming inaugural conference, “Rightly Ordered Law and the Flourishing of the Human Person”, will take place on March 14, 2023.