Lynn D. Wardle

Lynn D. Wardle is Bruce C. Hafen Professor of Law and an expert in family law. He has been President (2011-14) of the International Academy for the Study of the Jurisprudence of the Family. Wardle served as President of the International Society for Family Law (ISFL) from 2000-2002, currently serves on the ISFL Executive Council, and is a member of the American Law Institute. He has lectured, been a visiting professor, or made academic presentations about family law and family policy issues in more than twenty nations. He is coauthor of the casebooks Family Law from Multiple Perspectives (2014); also of Fundamental Principles of Family Law (2002), and principal editor of a four-volume treatise, Contemporary Family Law: Principles, Policy, and practices (1988). 

Wardle received his Bachelor’s degree from BYU in 1971. He is a 1974 cum laude graduate of Duke University Law School. Wardle was a clerk for US District Court Judge John Sirica.  He has testified before legislative committees about many family policy issues including federal and state Defense of Marriage Acts and marriage amendments.

About the Bruce C. Hafen Professorship

Ralph W. Hardy, Jr. and Carole Rawson Hardy have established the Bruce C. Hafen Professorship in recognition of his influence on countless law students during his exemplary career as a professor and dean of the Brigham Young University Law School.

Bruce C. Hafen attended Dixie College and BYU. He earned his juris doctorate from the University of Utah. After practicing law in Salt Lake City, he became assistant to the president of BYU. In this capacity, he was instrumental in the creation of the J. Reuben Clark Law School and was a member of the school’s original faculty.

He later served as president of Ricks College, dean of the J. Reuben Cark Law School, and provost of BYU. He served in the First Quorum of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Bruce C. Hafen Professorship symbolizes the law school’s continuing commitment to high quality scholarship in family law. Bruce Hafen is internationally recognized regarding legal topics related to the family, education, and the U.S. Constitution. His 1976 BYU Law Review article on children’s rights and his 1983 Michigan Law Review article on marriage were cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.

As a professor and dean of the law school, Bruce Hafen encouraged students and faculty to give priority both to religious values and to high quality scholarship.