Legal professionals are known by many names, such as lawyer, attorney or counselor-at-law.
But one of their “sweetest” titles is “advocate,” said Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson, who practiced law for almost 30 years before receiving her call as a general officer of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“An advocate is one who intercedes for, represents or pleads the cause of another, particularly in a court of law or at the bar of justice,” President Johnson said. “Of course, ‘Advocate’ is the name given to, and responsibility of, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Advocate with the Father on behalf of those who confess His name and keep His commandments.”
President Johnson’s remarks came during the J. Reuben Clark Law Society Annual Fireside on Friday, Jan. 16, at the Church Office Building in Salt Lake City. Her keynote address explored the intersection of law, peacemaking, religious freedom and women’s vital societal roles.
In attendance were Church President Dallin H. Oaks and his wife, Sister Kristen M. Oaks; and President D. Todd Christofferson, second counselor in the First Presidency, and his wife, Sister Kathy Christofferson. President Oaks is a former lawyer and Utah Supreme Court justice, and President Christofferson is a former lawyer.
The J. Reuben Clark Law Society is an international, chapter-based society of faith-based attorneys and law students. While it operates under the 501(c)(3) established and maintained by Brigham Young University, the society welcomes any law student or graduate of faith who supports its mission of defending religious freedom and moral values.
“Friends, you are people of influence,” President Johnson told the fireside audience. “We collectively have been blessed by the opportunity for education, by the gift of association. We can’t assume the work will be done by legal educators, scholars and academics. All of us must play an active role in teaching and inspiring and helping others.”
‘Distinct and different’ legal professionals
President Johnson’s address emphasized four points:
- The role that personal religious conviction must play in guiding legal work.
- Peacemaking, even in the legal profession.
- The work of peacemaking and religious freedom, particularly as done by women.
- A call to action.
Regarding the role of religious conviction in guiding legal work, President Johnson used scriptural accounts to illustrate how Jesus Christ was strong, active, courageous and meek — traits that anyone would wish for when hiring an attorney.
“At a time when brashness is rewarded and acrimony is applauded, let us be the legal professionals who are distinct and different,” President Johnson said.
This led to her second point: reconciling the responsibility to be a peacemaker with a lawyer’s obligation to tenaciously advocate a position.
But what President Johnson discovered across three decades of law practice, she said, was that sometimes the best way to make peace is through courtroom litigation — offering evidence and allowing a jury to make a decision.
President Johnson also urged legal professionals to emulate Jesus Christ when situations become contentious.
“Making peace requires active engagement,” she said. “We must be in the arena, not standing on the sidelines.”
Regarding her third point, President Johnson said peacekeeping and religious liberty are “soulmates.” But where nationalizing cultures are hostile to minority religious beliefs and secularizing cultures are antagonistic to religion generally, “history demonstrates devastating effects on society generally,” including social conflict, increased violence and destabilized households and economies.
It also results in greater inequality, President Johnson said, particularly in regard to women and children.
“Simply put, when societies and governments restrict religious freedoms, women and children suffer, and women are prevented from using their innate gifts to cultivate peace,” President Johnson said.
She continued that women have a special propensity to sense human needs, to comfort, to teach and to strengthen. Accordingly, “communities depend upon ordinary women for human flourishing,” and if women are to accomplish their peacekeeping roles, they must themselves be inspired, nurtured, healed, empowered and taught about their divine potential.
‘Where will this lead?’
President Johnson closed with a call to action, inviting legal professionals to consider important issues and ask, “Where will this lead?” Each person has the choice to speak, act or remain silent, she said.
“The work of defending the United States Constitution, religious freedom and the family is not just for legal scholars and academics,” President Johnson said. “It is for blue-collar lawyers, too, and Relief Society presidents and nonlawyers and people of every religious persuasion.”
She continued: “Let us follow the Prince of Peace and practice, in our personal and professional lives, His perfect example. ... He wants to engage with us — and will, as we joyfully engage in His great work.”
