By: Marie Dienhart
My time working for Justice Thomas Parker on the Alabama Supreme Court was, to say the least, very interesting. As most of America is aware, Alabama stands at the center of many conservative Christian legal battles, and my time at the court was bookended by important decisions about the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. When I first started at the court, it was wrestling with an Alabama federal district court judge about which court had greater authority to determine the constitutionality of Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage. And immediately after I left the court, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015). Needless to say, a good portion of my time was spent wrestling with these issues, both personally and professionally. We were sometimes asked to attend conferences about the ramifications of such decisions, and this really opened my eyes to the lasting effects that the law has on society.
Of course, my work days were consumed with writing bench memoranda or court opinions, and these were, honestly, a labor of love. I only worked on two cases, and didn’t get to write about any hot-button legal topics—I worked on a contract case and a negligence case—but learning from a group of well-educated, talented lawyers was truly wonderful. I have always prided myself on being a good writer, but the clerks made my writing look like child’s play. I would spend three weeks drafting a 50-page opinion just to have my supervisor reorganize the entire opinion and gut 25 pages. It was humbling, to say the least.
Aside from the writing assignments, the best part of working for Justice Parker was the day-to-day working environment. From day one, I was welcomed into a Christian community that cares, first and foremost, about developing loving warriors for Christ. As interns, we often went to lunch, attended social gatherings, and even went to church— all with the clerks who were supervising our work. In addition, Justice Parker would take us to prayer lunches at a local church every Wednesday, and we were given the chance to network with pastors and churchgoers from the local community. Although my time in Alabama was limited, they welcomed me as if I had moved to the area permanently.
Overall, my time in Justice Parker’s chambers taught me that being a lawyer by trade does not require us to stop being Christians by practice. It is possible (and, I think, ideal) to create a work environment that is both hard-working and joyful; rigorous and gracious; uncompromising and compassionate. Regardless of what the majority of Americans think, my time working in Justice Parker’s chambers showed me one thing: his office practices Christian leadership that changes the world.