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Graduation Spotlight: Nick Hafen

When Nick Hafen, ’19, invited a representative from Encircle, a Provo-based resource center for LGBTQ individuals and their families, to speak on a civil rights panel, he didn’t realize the impact it would have on his law school experience. Since then, Hafen has led positive efforts to connect BYU Law students with the Encircle community. […]

BYU Law’s Professor Stephanie Barclay to Clerk for Justice Neil Gorsuch​​​​​​​

BYU Law Professor Stephanie Barclay will clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in the Fall 2021 term. “I am excited and humbled that Justice Gorsuch would give me this opportunity, and I am indebted to many mentors and colleagues who helped me along this path,” Barclay said. Professor Barclay joined the BYU Law faculty in 2018 […]

Reflecting on the Legacy of Black Leadership

In honor of Black History Month, students and faculty gathered for a conversation with John Kwarm (‘13) about the legacy of black leadership in his life, as well as about his experience as a black law student, and now, a black lawyer. Today, he works as a public defender in Utah County. Kwarm’s commitment to […]

BYU Law Welcomes Judge Nelson, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

Judge Ryan D. Nelson (‘99) was recently confirmed as a Circuit Judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He was invited to BYU Law to speak to students about his legal career. Dean Gordon Smith, who welcomed Judge Nelson, explained that this visit was organized “because we believe that it is important for students […]

Law & Social Change with Neylan McBaine

On February 14, 1869, women of Utah proudly stepped up to the voting booth and marked their place in history as the first female voters in the United States. In an effort to shed light on Utah’s rich history of supporting women’s rights, Neylan McBaine established Better Days 2020, a nonprofit intended to popularize Utah […]

Developing an Outward Mindset

How do you deal with people who seem shortsighted or grossly misinformed? It’s a question many are asking in today’s political climate, and one that many struggle to answer. Professor Ben Cook recently addressed this question with a group of BYU Law students and provided them some insight on how to best operate in an […]

Students Explore Utah’s History of Internment and Civil Rights

Driving through the desert of Central Utah, it is hard to imagine that only decades ago the barren landscape was the setting for one of the most significant events in U.S. civil rights history. In 1942, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, thousands of Japanese-American men, women, and children—most of them U.S. […]

Creativity and the Future of Law: Cat Moon

Cat Moon, Director of Innovation Design for the Program in Law and Innovation (PoLI) at Vanderbilt Law School, shared her insights to creativity and innovation at a BYU Law Future of Law event. “Innovation is an incredibly simple concept: change that creates value. …It’s not mystical or magical, but it’s powerful,” she said. Moon stressed […]

BYU Law Students Join JAG Corps in Every Military Branch

BYU Law School has students becoming members of the JAG Corps in every branch of the military: the United States Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Navy. Each year the Law School successfully places an average of between six and eight students in military careers. This year, in addition to the ten students […]

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