Richard E. Turley, Jr. wrote:I came to the Church History Department not because I applied for the position, but because I was invited. And I left a very enjoyable occupation that would have made me a considerable amount of money in order to do that. . . . I was working for a Chicago-based law firm . . . and I left that early on in my career by invitation from the Church to come and do Church history. . . . I went to law in order to make a living for my family and I pursued history on the side. Then I had this invitation to come in and study the history of the Church. . . . I could at any time quit my current position, make more money, and go off on my own, okay? I'm not being held into my Church position because it's my livelihood. I have another profession, I have another livelihood I can go to and increase my income beyond what I get paid by the Church being a Church employee.
Interesting. Apparently Turley graduated from the J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1985, where he was an editor of the law review and where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. He also received the Hugh B. Brown Barrister's Award for top classroom performance. Clearly the makings for the start of a successful legal career.
So then presumably Turley studied for, took and passed the Utah bar examination (presumably sitting for the exam in July 1985?) and then continued on to work for (presumably the Utah office of) a Chicago-based law firm. Well, apparently he was hired as Assistant Managing Director of the Church History Department in January of 1986. Left the law early on in his career? I'll say. How quickly would he have possibly been granted admission to the bar following his examination? September of 1985? October? That's like three months as a lawyer before he hung it up.
So I'm a lawyer and I have my own views, but perhaps the other lawyers on the board can comment on what the U.S. legal market is currently like for someone who graduated law school in 1985, practiced for three months, and has not been actively involved in the practice of law since. Somehow, I don't think that such a person would even get considered to be a first-year associate at a major firm, let alone be brought into the private sector in the increasingly diminishing ranks of highly-paid equity partners. Maybe the market in Utah really is different--all you have to say is that you work for the church and want to go private, and firms will be falling all over themselves to hire you because of your incredible three months of experience that you gained 25 years ago.
How on earth could Turley really make it as a lawyer now? Maybe he was speaking of his other profession of being an author and writer. I didn't particularly like Victims, but if Deseret Book stands for anything, it stands for the proposition that if you are a Mormon, you can sell lots of crap to other Mormons just by virtue of once having a place in church leadership.
I just love it when people who have been career CES educators or have been suckling at the teet of the Church from the very beginning of their careers go on and on about how they aren't dependent on the church for a livelihood and could really make more money elsewhere.