Does a Northeastern Law education make you a better spiritual companion? David Balto ’83, a longtime antitrust attorney turned chaplain, thinks so.

“Northeastern sees law as a tool for social justice,” Balto says. “I think it made me more likely to be fully present with compassion in a place of suffering.”

It wasn’t until decades into a legal career that included a tenure as the policy director of the Bureau of Competition of the Federal Trade Commission that Balto was called to ministry. After the death of his father, he sought counsel from his rabbi, who directed him to a chaplaincy program at the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, DC. After years of litigating anticompetitive mergers and taking on the monopolistic conduct of big pharma, Balto found that his “spirit was moved by listening with presence, love and compassion and helping people find their own strength of spirit.”

Since 2014, he has served the Washington area as a chaplain in innercity hospitals, in a hospice and at a maximum-security prison, attending to the needs of people of all faiths while leaning on his robust connection to Judaism. “It is one of the greatest blessings in my life,” Balto says, “to serve those in need.”

The environments of his ministry may differ, but Balto finds parallels between working with the infirm, the homeless and the incarcerated, helping people find comfort no matter what their circumstance. The people he serves, Balto notes, “struggle with making meaning of their lives, and I listen with an open heart and recognize their full humanity — lessons I learned at Northeastern.”