"A good Catholic lawyer is a great lawyer to have on your side whether you are a Catholic or not,” Michael d’Arcy observes. “At his best, or her best, he will be employing the law to the max, in every possible way, to deliver the best result for the client.” D’Arcy, a barrister at One Essex Court chambers in London, is convinced that faith can effectively inform the conduct of those working in the legal professions. After all, he says, British law was founded on Christian principles. Catholic barristers do not practise the craft of law differently, he notes, but “try to live up as best we can to those very demanding principles”. He adds: “The Catholic barrister doing his job to the best of his ability will act with integrity and honesty and fearlessness, because justice will only be done properly if people’s advocates are as bold and fearless and honest as they can be.” Fresh in his mind is the nomination by Donald Trump of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States. d’Arcy recalls a commencement address given at Notre Dame University by the judge in 2006, in which she said the practice of law could help to build the Kingdom of God. “I think that’s a very good way of putting it,” says d’Arcy. In sharing the sense of the “higher purpose of law” that recognises the dignity of people made in the image and likeness of God, d’Arcy clearly finds common ground with the US Catholic judge.