Life in the Law: Answering God's Interrogatories
Galen L. Fletcher and Jane H. Wise, editors
Reviewed by R. Lee Warthen
Every lawyer should read this book. This recent book of thoughts on being a Latter-day Saint lawyer is good meat for the souls of lawyers of any denomination.
You never know what is going on in some back room at BYU; what is being shared at some private little fireside or convocation that those of us outside the greater Provo area are not likely to notice. Now, many of the pearls of wisdom dropped at twenty-six such occasions have been gathered up by Galen LeGrande Fletcher and Jane H. Wise into this little volume entitled Life in the Law: Answering God's Interrogatories.
This is the kind of book you want to put on a shelf within easy reach so when the stress of the day becomes too much, you can reach out and put legal life into perspective by reading one of these insightful little pieces by such stellar L.D.S. legal lights as James Faust, Michael Mosman, Dallin Oaks, Bruce Hafen, Rex Lee, Constance Lundberg, Russell M. Nelson - whoops! they let a doctor in Ð and others. Organized around the lead essay by Marlin K. Jensen with the same name as the book, the topics are: "Adam, Where Art Thou? (Do we think about where we are and where we ought to be?)"; "What Is Property Unto Me? (Do we focus too much on material wealth?)"; "Unto What Were Ye Ordained (Do we share the gospel?)"; and "What Think Ye of Christ? (Are we truly Christians?)".
When I was a first year law student at BYU in 1981, the hot book to read was one published by BYU Press entitled, On Being a Christian and a Lawyer, by Thomas L. Shaffer. It has since become a classic. Oddly enough, Shaffer is not L.D.S., but a Catholic law professor with Notre Dame connections. My first job after law school was at Washington and Lee University, where Professor Shaffer was on the faculty. I had the privilege of getting to know him. He ran the youth group for Catholic students there in Lexington, but we Mormons were always welcome there.
For twenty years, I have never read a better book for Christians and Mormons alike on its topic than On Being a Christian and a Lawyer unless it would be the volume of thoughtful essays edited by Michael W. McConnell, Robert F. Cochran, Jr., and Angela C. Carmella entitled Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought (2001).
In the same ecumenical spirit that Tom Shaffer offers his wisdom to the world, BYUÕs law alumni organization, the J. Reuben Clark Law Society (which doesnÕt discriminate against lawyers and friends who didnÕt graduate from there) has made this book available in hardcover or paperback. You wonÕt find it on Amazon; you can get it from Deseret Book or BYU Bookstore, or from the J. Reuben Clark Law Society directly. Call 801-422-5677 or order on the web at https://www.law.byu.edu/Accounting_Office/ Order/JRCLS_Publications/. Price is $25.00 for the hardcover and $10.00 for the paperback edition, plus $3.00 for shipping and handling.