Devoted to principle
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Personal conduct and professional ethics should be conducted according to the higher law of what is right rather than what is legal — and some trends in the legal society today should be avoided, said President James E. Faust.
President Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, was honored at a J. Reuben Clark Law Society Fireside with the society's Distinguished Service Award Feb. 28, presented by William F. Atkin, international chairman of the organization and assistant general counsel for the Church. The fireside was held in the Conference Center Theater and attended by prominent judges, attorneys and students of BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School and the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law.
The event was carried on the Church's satellite system to members of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society, which is open to all LDS judges, attorneys and law students. The society has a membership of some 6,000 in about 40 chapters throughout the United States and Canada, and in Mexico and New Zealand.
Elder Lance B. Wickman of the Seventy, general counsel of the Church, introduced President Faust by saying: "An apostle by calling, a lawyer by training, President James E. Faust is one of the most well-loved and well-known men in the Church."
He said that President Faust was a practicing lawyer in Salt Lake City for 25 years, served in the Utah State Legislature, as a member of the Utah Constitutional Revision Committee, president of the Utah Bar Association, "all the while serving as a bishop, stake president's counselor, stake president and regional representative." President Faust was also appointed by President John F. Kennedy to the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Racial Unrest, was given an honorary doctorate by BYU in 1997 and awarded honorary citizenship of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1998.
Elder Wickman said his "devotion to principle is devoid of any speck of self-righteousness or austerity. I have never known him to be other than the soul of kindness and tenderness.
"It is my observation that his unflagging devotion to principle is one of an unshakable confidence in the Lord." He also observed that President Faust "almost instinctively deflects praise."
President Faust introduced his remarks by quoting the late President Hugh B. Brown of the First Presidency who said, "It is all right to hear praise as long as you don't inhale.
"I didn't inhale."
President Faust quoted the late President Marion G. Romney of the First Presidency, who supported the establishment of the J. Reuben Clark Law School, with its principal purpose to permit the study of the "laws of man in light of the laws of God."
"I would like to expand on President Romney's statement . . . to 'involvement with the laws of men in light of the laws of God,' " he said. "In our own standards of personal conduct we must remember that the laws of men are the lesser law. . . . As I have said before, there is a great risk in justifying what we do individually and professionally on the basis of what is 'legal' rather than what is 'right.' In so doing, we put our very souls at risk. . . . What conduct is actually 'legal' is, in many instances, way below the standards of a civilized society and light years below the teachings of the Christ."
The higher law "requires us to do more than just seek justice but to eliminate injustice," said President Faust. "The Savior taught if any person has done an injustice to another so that the injured party needs to seek redress, the offender should do more than merely pay that which is due, he should in spirit give his cloak also. Efforts of conciliation and reconciliation and compromise are elements of the higher law."
He said that by the power of the Holy Ghost, Church members can "know the truth of all things," and "advocates, even as angels, need to speak 'by the power of the Holy Ghost.' "
President Faust encouraged those in the legal profession to have "profound legal competence without being tainted with any of the pernicious selfish influences that tend to corrupt and abuse the legal system," including such influences connected to "exorbitant punitive damages that are sometimes being awarded. A few of them bear no relationship to reasonable compensation. . . . It is hard to change human nature because greed is a basic human weakness."
He told of being "flat broke" when, as a young attorney and new bishop, he was expected to support a ward Relief Society bazaar. "The very day of the bazaar some money came in that was totally unexpected, which strengthened my faith and made it possible for the bishop to do his duty."
Regarding personal integrity, he quoted Abraham Lincoln who said, "If in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer."
President Faust continued, "To be fully successful in the law, one does not have to be brilliant or exceptionally gifted. The most effective work of the world is done by ordinary people who put forth extraordinary effort. This is true of lawyers. Our strengths are magnified with experience and inspiration. We ought to be patient and forgiving —although, as some witty person quipped, 'To err is human, to forgive would put a lot of attorneys out of work.' "
"Our lawyers need to be more than successful advocates," he continued. "We need to bring our sacred religious convictions and standards to the practice of law. To do otherwise would bring an inconsistency to our character. There always needs to be a connection between having an involvement in the law and living the gospel.
He said that current trends in law often are contentious and disagreeable and "in my lifetime I have seen the majesty of the law cheapened under the theory that the end of winning justifies the means."
Rather, he encouraged Church members to "use the spiritual gifts we can enjoy by obedience to our religious convictions [that will] work in remarkable ways in our attempts to help resolve differences."
"Before the wounds of injustice can heal, there must first come a feeling of peace. So, in a sense, a lawyer who helps make peace becomes something of a healer."
E-mail: jhart@desnews.com
