Every young Christian lawyer we train is a courtroom the persecuted will never face alone. I have said this many times, and each year it becomes more literal. A Christian family in a district town needs a lawyer who can reach the court that morning, not one who must travel from Lahore. That lawyer must be trained, enrolled, and willing to stay.
Christian lawyers in Pakistan are few for a simple reason: the road to the bar is long and expensive, and most Christian families are poor. A bright student from a brick kiln village may finish matriculation and intermediate, but years of LLB fees, books, transport and the lost wages of a working son are beyond most households. I know this road. I completed my BA at the University of the Punjab in 1976 and my LLB at Punjab University Law College in 1980, and I have not forgotten what it cost.
How the Alliance raises young advocates
- Scholarships. Christian Lawyers Alliance Pakistan (CLAP) funds LLB and LLM studies for young Christians from poor families. We look for character and calling first, and marks second.
- Mentoring. Each student is placed with a senior member of the Alliance who reads with him, corrects his drafting, and prays with him.
- Attending court with a senior. From the first year, our students sit beside a senior advocate in the district courts and the Lahore High Court, watching how a bail application is argued, how a habeas corpus petition is drafted, and how a witness is handled with dignity.
- Enrolment and first briefs. When the student is enrolled by the Bar Council, the Alliance gives him his first cases under supervision, so that no young Christian advocate begins alone.
What I ask of the students
I ask three things. Learn the law thoroughly, because a persecuted client cannot afford a lawyer who knows only half the Code. Learn the everyday statutes that shape Christian life in Pakistan, the Christian Divorce Act 1869, the Succession Act 1925 and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, because most of the community’s troubles are not headlines but wages, marriages and inheritance. And keep your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, because a lawyer who fears God more than men is the only kind who does not leave when the threats begin.
I ask church leaders to send us their promising young people, and I ask Christians abroad to remember that a scholarship for one student is a lawyer for a whole district. Our programme is described at clap.com.pk. Paul told Timothy to let no one despise his youth. I say the same to every young Christian advocate in Pakistan: the courts need you, and by God’s grace you will be ready.
— Founding Patron in Chief Advocate Soba Sorya, Senior Advocate High Court, Christian Lawyers Alliance Pakistan (CLAP)
