Kevin J Worthen, Hugh W. Colton Professor of Law and former dean of BYU Law and president of Brigham Young University
Why do some things last and others don’t? Worthen has reason to wonder. The Utah town where he was born, his elementary school, his junior college’s name, and the Phoenix law firm where he began his career have all vanished. He joked that he has “the reverse Midas touch,” and his wife suggested BYU should be nervous! The humor set up Worthen’s message: enduring means both lasting and tolerating, and students can survive law school, even transcend its grind, by focusing on what endures. Grades matter early, he said, but their weight fades quickly. “Once I joined a law firm, no judge, no client, no opposing counsel asked about my grades or class standing,” he recalled. Worthen urged students to treat competitive grading as a chance to overcome pride with charity, describing a first-year student whose anxiety lifted when he began praying for classmates. He also emphasized nurturing relationships, recalling a law student who neglected family and friends for three years and found those relationships degraded or gone by the time he graduated. “Learn now how to value and balance your time and priorities,” he said. Worthen closed by focusing on God’s enduring love, citing the Apostle Paul’s assurance that nothing can separate us from it.
