Jennie Bradley Lichter, RFI’s Senior Legal Fellow and Deputy General Counsel at the Catholic University of America, recently joined a panel discussion at an event hosted by Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Initiative titled, “Careers in Religious Liberty.” Lichter gave advice on how to enter the religious liberty space, stressing the importance of first learning the craft of lawyering, and then staying connected to networks that will help bring about opportunities for religious freedom work. 

Lichter also spoke about how they might influence future colleagues to care about religious freedom, and to support religious freedom-friendly proposals or policies they want to advance. She explained:

Be a good colleague and a trusted partner. Be generous with your time, be a cheerful warrior, support other people’s priorities whenever you can. Then, when you’re sitting in a meeting pitching a policy or litigation or pro bono project at your firm that you want permission to take on, you get a little more grace. If you’re talking to people – as you often will be – who are less excited than you are about religious liberty, they’ll be much more willing to hear you out and ultimately to get onboard with what you want to do if they like and trust you and know that you’re a hard worker, and that you’ve brought value to the table on a lot of other issues.

Lichter advised law students to be willing to adjust their career paths according to their family’s needs, and to accept the changes that may come with different “seasons” of their careers. “I really encourage you to view your professional life…as seasons that ebb and flow, and just make sure to stay attuned to your personal vocation, as well as your professional vocation,” said Lichter.

She also encouraged them saying, “If your heart’s desire is to work in this space, the religious liberty space, you’ll find a way to do it or it will find you.”

Watch the full discussion: “Careers in Religious Liberty.”

Read Notre Dame’s write-up on the event: “Careers in Religious Liberty” panelists explore the intersection of law and faith.”