O'Connor speaks up for ethics

PROVO — Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, speaking at a fireside for the J. Reuben Clark Law Society Friday night, encouraged listeners to be ethical, moral lawyers, as well as to serve the community.

Do what is right and what is good in the world, O'Connor said. "Each of you can act as a powerful force for change."

O'Connor spoke at Arizona State University to a live audience of 500 lawyers, law students and guests. Her presentation was

broadcast over the LDS Church Satellite network to a potential audience of more than 7,000 in 100 locations, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

An audience of about 40 law students, professors and guests watched the broadcast at the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center at BYU.

Jenni Carlquist, 27, of Hazelton, Idaho, a third-year law student at the BYU law school, said O'Connor is a wonderful role model.

"The time period in which she became a lawyer and succeeded in doing really well is impressive," Carlquist said. "It's common now for women to be in law school and to be successful lawyers but at the time she was doing it, it wasn't as common or acceptable."

O'Connor became the first woman justice to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981. Although her nomination was met with great expectations as well as criticism, she emerged with her own brand of pragmatic and centrist-oriented conservatism. O'Connor served on the Supreme Court until her retirement on Jan. 31, 2006.

Addressing the audience Friday night, O'Connor spoke of two incidents involving attorneys and ethical/moral dilemmas.

First, an attorney was present while other attorneys coached a client to blame a murder on an innocent person who later ended up on death row.

Second, O'Connor told the audience to imagine they were one of the transactional lawyers at Enron. They are approached by their supervisors who say they have come up with a way to structure transactions in a manner that might submerge debt and perhaps over-report income.

"I hope none of you face the kinds of situations I outlined today," O'Connor said. "But if you do, you have to make up your minds well in advance that you are going to speak up instead of remaining silent."

O'Connor also encouraged the audience to be outstanding citizen lawyers, putting in pro bono services and helping build vibrant communities. "As lawyers, you have the power to shape the communities that your life touches," she said.

O'Connor graduated with a JD from Stanford Law School in 1952. Since earning her degree, she served as deputy county attorney for San Mateo, Calif; as a civilian lawyer in the Quartermaster's Corps of Frankfurt, Germany, while her husband served his country in the Judge Advocate General Corps; and as assistant state attorney general in Arizona.

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