A Jewish lawyer’s decisions can be affected by the degree of religious beliefs held.This was the message Nancy Rapoport, associate professor of law, gave to about 50 people Thursday night at the Hillel center.There are four different degrees of the Jewish religion, she said. Each degree follows the Jewish religious beliefs differently.Rapoport said Jewish beliefs originate from a ‘top down’ approach. God is the top being and his rules are delivered down to the community.’The rules of society are given by a dominant leader to a whole community,’ she said.The rules act as lifetime goals in which the Jewish person should aspire to achieve to become better.An orthodox Jew strictly follows the rules, she said. A conservative Jew modernizes the rules a little. A reform Jew chooses to follow bits and pieces of the rules and an ethnically identified Jew does not necessarily follow the religion at all, she said.Rapoport proposed a hypothetical situation to the listeners.What would a rabbi who is also a Jew do if a member of their congregation admitted to killing someone and an innocent person was to be executed for their crime? She said sanctity of life is very important to the Jewish community. ‘It trumps everything else,’ she said.Being an Orthodox Jew, who follows all the rules, the rabbi would report the crime, she said.A Reform Jew, who picks and chooses rules to follow, may choose to follow the sacred legal rule of confidentiality of the client/lawyer relationship, she said.’The more observant on the ‘top down’ rules of the Jewish lawyer, the more limited their legal practice will be,’ she said.The Jewish lawyer may stay away from types of law where religious beliefs might make it hard for them to practice, she said.Aaron Evenchik, a senior in civil engineering, said he would definitely follow his religious beliefs over the legal beliefs in the hypothetical situation.