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“How Faith Has Shaped My Law Practice and Professional Identity”

The inaugural installment of BYU Law’s “Faith in Practice” series on February 28 welcomed a panel of distinguished alumni: Leslie Gallacher (‘00), Parsons Behle & Latimer; Athelia Graham (‘19), Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains; and Hutch Fale (‘06), Avery Burdsal & Fale, PC. Leslie Gallagher recalled her feelings of inadequacy when she arrived at BYU […]

Helen Alvaré: “Religious Freedom as Freedom”

“How did religious freedom become religious unfreedom?” asked Helen Alvaré, the Robert A. Levy Endowed Chair in Law and Liberty at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, and recent speaker for BYU Law’s Law & Religion Lecture Series. Alvaré explored why religious freedom is increasingly considered to infringe on freedoms concerning health, peace, equality, […]

Dazza Greenwood: Generative AI for Law and Legal Processes

It’s all about the prompt. BYU Law’s Future of Law forum welcomed Dazza Greenwood, researcher at MIT’s media lab and executive director of law.MIT.edu., who demonstrated how AI models can generate astonishingly accurate results from detailed inputs. A student inquiry about using AI to generate ideas for amending a patent to avoid prior art had […]

Professor Goldburn P. Maynard, Jr.: “Inequality & Taxation.”

“Inequality is a complicated, unsolvable paradox,” Indiana University assistant professor of business law and ethics Goldburn P. Maynard, Jr. warned at BYU Law’s Black History Month lecture. Indeed, inequality is inherent in our world, Maynard observed – “look at nature!” Trying to create greater equality creates tension because the leveling requires treating people differently. “I’m […]

Judge Milan D. Smith: “Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity.”

A line from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, “sweet are the uses of adversity,” set the stage for BYU Law forum remarks by Judge Milan D. Smith of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on how setbacks for several historical figures paved the way for their extraordinary contributions. William Blackstone, denied a professorship at Oxford, […]

Nicola Shaver: The State of Legal Innovation in 2024

“No matter what you think of AI, you will be using it,” says Nicola Shaver, cofounder and CEO of Legaltech Hub, a global directory of legal technology tools and services. ChatGPT is the most widely and rapidly adopted technology in history, and it’s no fad—it’s the future. When GPT-4 scored in the top 10% of […]

Students Argue Before Utah Court of Appeals

BYU Law students became real-world appellate advocates before the Utah Court of Appeals in a special argument session in BYU Law’s Moot Courtroom on November 15, 2023. The four-judge panel included BYU Law graduates David N. Mortensen, ‘93, John D. Luthy, ’00, and Ryan D. Tenney, ’03, as well as Amy J. Oliver. Oral arguments […]

The Vital Role of Women in Public Service

Panel organized by BYU Law’s Government & Politics Legal Society and Women in Law More women should seek public office. They’re good at it. This was the consensus of Wednesday’s panel of distinguished public servants, which included Becky Edwards, former Utah state representative, Tracy Nuttall, Project Elect board member, Brooke Gledhill Wood, ’22, of The […]

Mallorie Mecham and Sam Stoddard: Leveraging Tech in Your Legal Career

“Technology isn’t coming for you!” Sam Stoddard, cofounder and CEO of legal software company SimpleCitizen, assured BYU Law students. He joined Mallorie Mecham, ‘18, an associate at immigration law firm Fragomen, in championing the integration of technology into the practice of law. Both were eager to demonstrate how technology adopters become more efficient, effective attorneys. […]

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