JRCLS Annual Conference: Day 3 (final day)

It is now almost midnight.  As I sit here, with weary eyes, thinking about the past few days, I have a strong feeling come over me that there are many good things happening and many good people in this world making them happen.  These past few days have also reaffirmed to me that people of faith, trained in the law--men and women--are doing great things.  I am thankful to be a part of this amazing law society.

Enough contemplation.  I'll tell you what occured today, the final day, of the Conference.

It began with an impressive panel of judges from the Washington D.C. Circuit Court.  They addressed the following issue:  Life Lessons Learned.

They were followed by another impressive group who discussed religious liberty.  One of the more  interesting things that took place during this panel, occurred at the end of the presentation.  Elder Lance Wickman, general counsel for the LDS church, who was moderating, asked each panelist what they would suggest each attendee should read in order to be more enlightened on this topic.  These were some of the suggestions: The Right to be Wrong; Dignitatis Humane; Watson v. Jones, an 1871 U.S. Supreme Court case, and the recent talks by Elder Oaks and Elder Cook in the newsroom on LDS.org

Lunch occurred, during which time several different section meetings were held.  Sections are groups of people within the Society that share a common interest or practice area.  For example, there is a judges section, an estate planning one, an intellectual property one, etc.

The final presentation of the Conference was put on by the Office of General Counsel (OGC).  The legal counsel for the LDS church is set up in the following manner: there is the general counsel, who is Elder Lance Wickman; he has two associate general counsel, Boyd Black (over North America and Canada) and Bill Atkin (over all the other international countries); there are 13 Area Legal Counsel (ALCs); each ALC has responsibility for a certain geographic area and helps coordinate legal issues in that area which involve missions, missionaries, real estate and tax issues, church recognition areas and helping Area Presidencies in their respective areas.  Bill Atkin and 3 of the ALCs shared stories about miracles they've seen happen in the past year in their work.  This is always one of the highlights of the Conference.  It once again shows to us that God is in the details and will take care of his servants.

This ended the Conference.  Good byes were hard but we knew we would soon see each other again.  Since Dan and I were tired we decided to skip the metro and just take a cab.  That was our decision until we asked the cabbie how much it would cost.  When the answer was $40.00, the metro sounded a whole lot more appealing.  We had a great walk and ended the trip on the metro, just as we had begun.

I've included a few pictures.  My sweet husband took them for me.  I hope you enjoy them and I truly hope you have enjoyed these Conference blog updates.  I encourage each of you, who can, to attend one of these Conferences at some point.  If you do, you will be enriched.

Women gathering for WIL breakfast.

Elizabeth Smith, previous WIL chair,
and me at Friday lunch.

My husband took this picture. I'm not sure why.
I guess he has an interest in table settings.  I must admit, it was an impressive setting. It was also taken at the Friday lunch.

Justice Clarence Thomas speaking at Friday lunch.