2019 JRCLS Annual Conference

The 2019 J. Reuben Clark Law Society Annual Conference was held February 14-16 in Seattle, Washington at the beautiful Bell Harbor Conference Center. 

On Thursday afternoon JRCLS leaders participated in a well-attended Chapter Relations Council Meeting. 

On Friday, the Women in Law Committee (WIL) held its annual breakfast meeting with over 50 women, and a few great men☺, in attendance. The theme for this year’s Annual Conference was “Anxiously Engaged in Good Causes.” Susannah Thomas, the current WIL Chair, shared her thoughts about this theme and then asked each person at the breakfast to introduce themselves and share how he or she had tried to implement this mindset in her life. 

One sister said that she had paid the bar fees for a colleague who was struggling financially. She said this was not a huge hardship for herself but made all the difference to this colleague who was then enabled to begin helping others. Another woman stated that the word “anxious” should not be interpreted as feeling anxious over what we did or failed to do, but that we should strive to be positively seeking for opportunities to better others’ live.  A sister told of just returning from her mission in Russia where conversion efforts are not allowed. She said that those serving in Russia are considered volunteers who do not proselytize but perform community service and support Church members already there; she was anxiously engaged in those efforts. Another woman spoke of putting her legal career on hold so that she could focus her efforts on raising her children to be steadfast members of the Church. Currently, none of her adult children are active nor does she have a career. She questioned how it was possible for women to be anxiously engaged in both raising a family and maintaining a career in the law and ventured the guess that the majority of women who did not attend JRCLS events felt burdened with the same dilemma. One brother spoke of his efforts as chapter chair to encourage non-practicing women attorneys to become a part of JRCLS stating that these women have experiences and insights that are valuable to JRCLS. Susannah Thomas pledged her efforts to draw more non-practicing women to join JRCLS. 

After the breakfast we immediately began the morning plenary session that was sponsored by WIL. The first order of business was awarding the coveted Women in Law Service Award to Eileen Crane.

Angel Zimmerman (WIL Immediate Past Chair), Eileen Crane, Susannah Thomas (WIL Chair)

Following the award ceremony we heard from Debra Norwood, a Certified Laughter Lead and Expert Level Practitioner with the World Laughter Tour. 

Debra Norwood

Debra spoke about her work encouraging victims of crime to have hope.  During her presentation she encouraged all JRCLS participants to learn simple physical movements designed to infuse attorneys and clients alike with positive energy. She also introduced the theory that our brains sometimes lie to us, telling us that we cannot achieve what we desire to. She encouraged us to ignore those lies and forge ahead doing good.  A final activity that Debra asked us to participate in  was to wear red noses with courage and with laughter. 

Everyone got into the spirit of red noses!

The WIL Plenary session was a resounding success, and we are so grateful to Debra Norwood for sharing her time and talents with us as well as Eileen Crane for the amazing service she gives worldwide. 

We are also extremely grateful to the Conference planning committee for another amazing Annual Conference. We encourage everyone to attend the 2020 Annual Conference February 27-29 in Phoenix, Arizona!

(Written by Kathryn Latour, member of WIL and Media Committees)