A Good Lawyer

Here's a few thoughts on the legal life and work of President James E. Faust, who passed away last week at age 87.

A quote from President Faust in the Spring 2003 Clark Memorandum, p. 7:

The pursuit of justice is a very noble path, but obtaining justice is often very elusive …. In some ways a more noble effort is to resolve differences by being a peacemaker.

From his obituary in the Deseret News:

The son of an attorney and judge, President Faust gravitated naturally to a law career. After claiming a juris doctorate from the University of Utah Law School in 1948, he practiced law in Salt Lake City until his call as an Assistant to the Twelve on Oct. 6, 1972.

Public service was a notable element of President Faust's life during his professional career. He served as a Democratic member of the Utah Legislature from 1949-1951. He also served as an adviser to the American Bar Journal and was president of the Utah Bar Association in 1962-1963. He was also appointed by President John F. Kennedy to the Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights and Racial Unrest.

From an address to the BYU Law School on November 22, 1987:

The canons of ethics and the rules of court with which you must be familiar are helpful rules of conduct to abide by, but I have always believed that they are the lesser law. An attorney's own careful conscience and his own standards of high integrity ultimately ought to govern his conduct.