Each year, the J. Reuben Clark Law Society offers a Continuing Legal Education Program as part of BYU Education Week, an annual event hosted at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. The event offers hundreds of classes on subjects ranging from education and religion to finance and more. This year’s JRCLS program, held August 18–21, 2026, brought attendees from across the country together to learn, engage, and be inspired. Although CLE credit is an important component of the program, many attendees participate primarily for the knowledge, insight, and meaningful discussion the sessions provide.
This year’s program included sessions on a wide range of legal and professional topics, presented primarily by members of the Law Society. For instance, JRCLS member Alisa Wilkes of the Florida Orlando Chapter presented “The AI-Powered Law Firm: Real Tools, Real Results for Today’s Busy Attorney.” The session explored practical ways attorneys can use artificial intelligence in their firms, including developing a firm-specific AI knowledge base, improving a firm’s visibility to AI systems, and addressing confidentiality, data security and disclosure obligations.
Blaine Evanson, JRCLS Global Religious Freedom Committee Chair and a member of the California Orange County Chapter, explained recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court and their impact. Judge Todd J. Plewe, chair of the JRCLS Judges Section and a chief district court judge in Colorado, and Judge Matthew D. Bates, a district court judge in Utah, shared their perspectives during a session focused on criminal sentencing.
Annette Jarvis, former International Chair of the Law Society and member of the Utah Salt Lake City Chapter, discussed the important interplay between interfaith dialogue and pro bono legal service. Lee Wright and Brian Jackson, also from the Salt Lake City Chapter, each presented sessions based on their work with the Office of General Counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their sessions addressed, respectively, the Church’s recent legal challenges and the legal facets of Church temple construction.
Other sessions considered religious freedom, health care law, water rights, peacemaking, case planning from the defense and prosecution perspectives, and estate planning.
Representing the Law Society’s international leadership, Angel Zimmerman, International Chair, and Amy Larsen, Executive Director, discussed the important role lawyers play in creating and promoting the rule of law, as well as the critical attributes of honesty, civility, and professionalism in legal practice. They also discussed various ways attorneys can make a meaningful difference in their communities through pro bono legal service, volunteering through civic institutions, and teaching legal principles to lawyers and non-lawyers.
Special thanks are due to David Dowling and Eileen Doyle Crane, the volunteer program coordinators, who help plan and present the program every year in collaboration with the BYU Education Week administrators. Their continued leadership, together with the contributions of the presenters and other volunteers, has made the JRCLS CLE Program a valued part of BYU Education Week and a meaningful opportunity for the Law Society to fulfill its mission of promoting professional excellence, service, and the rule of law.
