Abbreviation | JRCLS |
---|---|
Named after | J. Reuben Clark |
Type | Voluntary association |
Legal status | Association |
Purpose | Religious conviction, Public service, Professionalism |
Headquarters | Provo, Utah, United States |
Region served | Worldwide |
Membership | attorneys, lawyers, law school graduates or law school students who support the mission of the Society |
Chair of the Society | Jeremiah Morgan |
Affiliations | J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University |
Website | jrcls.org |
The J. Reuben Clark Law Society is an organization of lawyers and law school students consisting of over 65 professional and 125 student chapters throughout the world. Named in honor of J. Reuben Clark, a former United States Ambassador to Mexico and Under Secretary of State, the society's membership is primarily composed of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), although there is no requirement that those in the society be church members. Alumni and students of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University (BYU) are de facto members of the society. [1]
The organization currently claims as members 14 circuit court of appeals judges, 18 U.S. district court judges, four United States Attorneys, six U.S. Senators, including erstwhile President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch, nine U.S. Representatives, 17 Fortune 500 corporate counselors, more than 85 state judges (including of state supreme courts), and thousands of practicing attorneys and law students.
The society holds an annual conference for students and attorneys, typically in the middle of February. The 2006 conference was held in Washington, D.C., and featured the Attorney General of the United States as well as a panel of distinguished U.S. Supreme Court advocates. The 2009 conference was held at Harvard Law School. The 2012 conference was held at Stanford Law School. The 2013 conference was held in Washington, DC. [2]
Rex Edwin Lee was an American lawyer and academic who served as the 37th solicitor general of the United States from 1981 to 1985. He was responsible for bringing the solicitor general's office to the center of U.S. legal policymaking. During his tenure, Lee argued 59 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dallin Harris Oaks is an American religious leader and former jurist and academic who since 2018 has been the first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called as a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1984. Currently, he is the second most senior apostle by years of service and is the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
The J. Reuben Clark Law School is the law school of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. Founded in 1973, the school is named after J. Reuben Clark, a former U.S. Ambassador, Undersecretary of State, and general authority of the institution's sponsoring organization, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Joshua Reuben Clark Jr. was an American attorney, civil servant, and a prominent leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Born in Grantsville, Utah Territory, Clark was a prominent attorney in the Department of State, and Undersecretary of State for U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. In 1930, Clark was appointed United States Ambassador to Mexico.
Dee Vance Benson was an American jurist who served as district judge and chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. He was briefly a professional soccer player. He was nominated as judge by President George H. W. Bush on May 16, 1991, and confirmed by the United States Senate on September 12, 1991, receiving his commission on September 16, 1991. In May 2004, Chief Justice William Rehnquist appointed Judge Benson to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a seven-year term.
Ernest Leroy Wilkinson was an American academic administrator, lawyer, and prominent figure in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was president of Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1951 to 1971, simultaneously overseeing the entire LDS Church Educational System (CES). He is credited with the expansion of BYU. Under his presidency, the student body increased six times to over 25,000 students due to the university's physical growth and his aggressive recruiting policies; the number of colleges at the university increased from five to thirteen, and the number of faculty members increased four-fold. Wilkinson focused on recruiting more faculty and convincing current faculty to receive education outside the university. As a result, the number of teachers with doctorate degrees increased from 50 to 500. Associate and doctoral programs were created for BYU.
Brett L. Tolman is a former United States Attorney for the District of Utah from July 2006 to December 2009. Before becoming U.S. Attorney, Tolman worked as counsel in the Senate Judiciary Committee for committee chairs Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and then Arlen Specter (R-PA) during the 109th United States Congress. Tolman's most noteworthy work in the Senate is his role in the passage of the 2005 Patriot Act reauthorization. He was instrumental in the revisions to the appointment process of interim U.S. Attorneys and is a major figure in the dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy.
Bruce Clark Hafen is an American attorney, academic and religious leader. He has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1996.
Michael Wise Mosman is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. He served as Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon from February 1, 2016, to December 23, 2019. He also served a 7-year term on the FISA Court from May 4, 2013, to May 3, 2020. He previously served as the United States attorney for the same district.
Kevin J Worthen is an American professor who served as the 13th president of Brigham Young University (BYU) from 2014 to 2023. From 2010 to 2021, he also served as an area seventy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Worthen served previously at BYU as the Advancement Vice President and as dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School (JRCL).
Dale Albert Kimball is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah.
Albert Sherman Christensen was a trial attorney, author, and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. Christensen was the first member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be appointed in Utah. He authored six books, volumes of poetry, and many legal articles. One of Christensen's most significant contributions to the legal community was his establishment of the United States' first American Inn of Court in 1980.
Lloyd Dee George was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada and the namesake of the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Michael Goldsmith was a law professor at Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School.
Jeffrey N. Walker is an American attorney and academic working as an adjunct professor at the J. Reuben Clark Law School (BYU).
James R. Rasband is an American academic and religious leader who has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since April 2019. He was previously the Academic Vice President (AVP) at Brigham Young University (BYU) from June 2017 until shortly after he was called as a general authority. He also previously served as dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School (JRCLS). He has also been the Hugh W. Colton Professor of Law.
Hannah Clayson Smith is an American attorney with the firm Schaerr Jaffe. Smith is a senior fellow at the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University (BYU) and a member of the Board of Directors of the Religious Freedom Institute.
Ryan Douglas Nelson is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was previously nominated to become Solicitor of the United States Department of the Interior, but was never confirmed.
The 2000 presidential campaign of Orrin Hatch, a U.S. senator from Utah, officially began on July 1, 1999, with the establishment of an exploratory committee. Hatch had been a senator since 1977 and at the time of his announcement he was a high-ranking official on several Senate committees, most notably the chairman for the Senate Judiciary Committee. He had established himself as a conservative Republican who was known to work with liberal Democrats on major bipartisan bills, such as the 1997 Children's Health Insurance Program bill. From the beginning of his campaign, Hatch stressed his experience in federal government and attacked the perceived lack of experience of the Republican frontrunner, Texas governor George W. Bush. However, numerous commentators noted that Hatch's campaign was unlikely to succeed, due to his late entry into the race and Bush's dominant position in fundraising and opinion polling. Throughout his campaign, Hatch struggled to raise money and consistently polled in the single digits. In January 2000, he came in last place in the Iowa caucuses and announced on January 26 that he was ending his campaign, supporting eventual nominee Bush, who would go on to win the 2000 United States presidential election. Hatch remained in the Senate for several more years following his campaign and in 2015, as the most senior member of the Senate, he became the president pro tempore. In 2019, he decided to retire, ending his 42-year career as the most senior Republican senator ever before dying in 2022.