I attended my first law school event yesterday. The Alumni Associate for my intended school has an annual luncheon honoring certain alumni and is well attended by many of the school’s top graduates. Yesterday’s luncheon featured a judge and a partner from Jones Day (would’ve much preferred the years where a Congressman or a Senator spoke).

Those who received the Dean’s Scholarships were invited, and I had the opportunity to meet some of my future classmates and speak with a few people I’d otherwise not have had the opportunity to talk to (the Dean of the Law School and the Dean of Law Admissions, among them) as well as a few students who had just finished their first year and were more than willing to fill our heads with tales of woe.

Besides discovering that my classmates were, well, exactly what I’d expected them to be and that, yikes, when I walked by a mirror in my borrowed attire I barely recognized myself, one thing really struck me yesterday as being a bit…well…I can’t put my finger on it. Let me explain.

So there I am, dressed in a borrowed suit that still had the tags on it (I would have been much less paranoid wearing someone else’s clothing had I not known that it cost $500), surrounded by some of the city’s most powerful attorneys (partners at top firms, deans of other schools, judges, prosecutors, etc.) in one of the city’s most fabulous hotel ball rooms for a gathering of professionals and academics for an alumni reception for a state school. Follow me so far? You can imagine my surprise, then, when the event both started and ended with…prayer.

I’m talking hardcore, guy at the front of the room with a white collar, “Lord guide our colleagues to seek justice…blah, blah, blah” sort of prayer. Prayers were offered up for government officials, heads of state, justice in the Middle East. I stopped listening to glance around and see if anyone else was as surprised by this turn of events as I was. Beginning and ending an event such as the one I described with prayer seemed a bit to me like starting off a conference call or a meeting at work with prayer. It seemed a little, I don’t know, inappropriate?

In discussing my reaction with those close to me, I’ve discovered that some employers (like A’s) really DO start out important department meetings with prayer. Perhaps I was wrong to be so taken aback, but really, is this the norm? Is there prayer at most other events of this nature? Do professional organizations pray before luncheons? Anyone? Am I just a bit oversensitive?