Center Fellows

David Berrett

David Berrett worked for more than 13 years for from the Office of General Counsel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before retiring effective 31 Aug 2022. Prior to joining the Church’s Office of General Counsel, he was the Director of Legal Services for the Church’s Human Resources Department, having responsibility for global HR legal compliance. During his time with the Office of General Counsel, he served as the Church’s Area Legal Counsel in Hong Kong, where he supervised legal work in more than 40 countries (2009-2013) and as Area Legal Counsel for Southern Africa, residing in Johannesburg, where he was responsible for more than 30 countries (2018-2022). In these roles, he was directly involved in the intersection between law and religious organizations, having responsibility for compliance by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with the laws and regulations of the countries in his areas. More…

L. Whitney Clayton

Elder L. Whitney Clayton was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on March 31, 2001. He served as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy since 2008 and was named Senior President of the Quorums of the Seventy on October 6, 2015. He assisted Elder Quentin L. Cook in supervising the Mexico Area and Elder David A. Bednar in supervising the Middle East/Africa North Area.

Elder Clayton served as a counselor in the South America South Area Presidency in 2002 to 2003 and as president from 2003 to 2006, while living in Buenos Aires, Argentin. Previously he served as an Area Seventy for the North America West Area for six years.  More…

Scott E. Isaacson

A shaping force behind the conception and formation of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Scott E. Isaacson at present serves the Center as Regional Advisor for Latin America. He is a Member of the Latin American Consortium for Religious Liberty (Consorcio Latinoamericano de Libertad Religiosa) and a shareholder in the Law Firm of Kirton & McConkie, where he is a member of the International Law Section with a practice focusing on international commercial transactions and international law for not-for-profit organizations. From 1998 through 2004 he served as International Legal Counsel, Office of General Counsel, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, supervising all Church legal work in South America, managing international real estate acquisitions and construction, complex litigation and international arbitration, international tax compliance for not-for-profit organizations,  More …

Michael L. Jensen

Michael L. Jensen is Regional Legal Counsel, Office of General Counsel, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He previously served as Area Legal Counsel for the Europe Area, headquartered in Frankfurt Germany.  He served from 2007-2009 as Area Legal Counsel in Hong Kong, and from 2001-2005 in the same role in Moscow, in which capacities he supervised corporate, tax, employment, real estate and construction, litigation, government relations, religious liberty and related legal issues for the Church in 26 countries in Asia and in 16 countries in Eastern Europe, respectively. Intermittent with these assignments he has been a member Of Counsel of the International Law Section and Employment Law Section of the law firm Kirton & McConkie, with a practice focusing on international law for not-for-profit organizations and on advising employers on all aspects of the employment relationship. More …

David M. Kirkham

David Kirkham is Executive Director of the Geneva Office for Human Rights Education (https://go-hre.org/) and President of The International Society, a global professional association of friends and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with international interests and experience. He has served the Brigham Young University Law School International Center for Law and Religion Studies as Senior Fellow for Comparative Law and International Policy since 2007. In January 2023, David and his wife Judy completed service as Special Representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United Arab Emirates, conducting Church-Emirati governmental, humanitarian, and interfaith relations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

David’s professional activities have taken him to over 50 countries on six continents. …  More …

Cynthia Juárez Lange

Cynthia Juárez Lange is an attorney. She received her JD from Southwestern University School of Law and her BA in Political Science from Brigham Young University She was a Managing Partner of Worldwide Executive Committee – Fragomen Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy from 1986 to 2020. She was an adjunct Professor of Law for Southwestern University School of Law and served as a trial attorney for the US Department of Justice – Immigration and Naturalization Service. She is currently on the Board of Directors for the National Immigration Law Center & IJG as well as on the Board of Directors for Days for Girls. From 2010 to 2021, she was the Program Chair for the Practicing Law Institute Immigration Symposium. In 2021, she and her husband, Dennis Lange, accepted an assignment as Co-Directors of an ICLRS initiative to the Organization of American States in Washington, DC.

Dennis Lange

Dr. Dennis Lange is a nephrologist. In 2021, he and his wife, Cynthia Lange, accepted an assignment as Co-Directors of an ICLRS initiative to the Organization of American States in Washington, DC. He received an MD from the University of California, Los Angeles and a BS in Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is currently pursuing an MPH from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Lange worked with Kidney Specialists Medical Corp from 1997-2016. He also served as Medical Director of Lifeline Dialysis Service during that same time. He was Medical Director for Montebello Dialysis Clinic and DaVita Kenneth Hahn Plaza Dialysis Clinic for many years. Prior to that he was a physician with Kidney Specialists Medical Group.

Denise Posse-Blanco Lindberg

A native of Havana, Cuba, Denise Posse Lindberg received her primary and secondary education in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the United States. She graduated with her B.A. from Brigham Young University (BYU) and earned Masters’ and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Utah. She later received a Juris Doctor degree, Magna Cum Laude, from BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School. Following law school, she clerked at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit for Judge Monroe G. McKay, and at the Supreme Court of the United States for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. She practiced appellate and healthcare law in Washington, DC and Salt Lake City, Utah prior to her 1998 judicial appointment to the Third District Court bench. Judge Lindberg left full-time judicial service in 2015 but continues as a Senior District Judge with the State of Utah Judiciary.

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Neil A. Lindberg

Neil Lindberg, an attorney, is a Senior Fellow at the International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS). From 2018-21, Neil and his wife, Denise, represented ICLRS and Latter-day Saint Charities at the Organization of American States in Washington, DC. Prior to serving as a Senior Fellow, Neil practiced land use and municipal law in Maryland and Utah for many years. He has served on the J. Reuben Clark Law School Alumni Board and on the board of the Utah Land Use Institute. In addition to a Juris Doctor, Neil holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Public Administration degrees from Brigham Young University.  

Douglas E. McAllister

Douglas E. McAllister retired from the Office of General Counsel, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after having served as Area Legal Counsel for the Brazil, Philippines and Asia North Areas. In Brazil, he was instrumental in the publication and dissemination in Portuguese of The Punta del Este Declaration on Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere. He helped create Liberdade Religiosa: Um Guia de Seus Direitos – Brasil, which presently has 51 co-sponsoring organizations, including federal and state government entities, state Bar associations, academic institutions, religious organizations and human rights groups. He currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee, Geneva Office for Human Rights Education. Previously, Doug served in Washington, D.C., initially as an Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and later as Vice President and Deputy Chief Counsel of the American Mining Congress; in Phoenix, AZ as Director, Fennemore Craig, PC;  More…

Janet M. Nelson

Janet Matthews Nelson received her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Utah and her master’s degree in Mathematics Education from Hunter College (City University of New York). She raised her four children in Brooklyn, New York, and taught mathematics in secondary schools in Orem and New York City. She served on the Young Women’s Board of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2014-2018 while living in Brooklyn, NY and Frankfurt, Germany. While she and her husband were living in Germany, she worked with refugees who had come from Afghanistan, Syria, and Pakistan, tutoring them in German, mathematics, and English. When she moved to Salt Lake City in 2020, she continued to volunteer as a mathematics tutor to local refugees. In July 2022 she was appointed Senior Fellow of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, together with her husband, Jeff, after affiliating with the Center for more than 15 years.

Jeff Nelson

Jeff Nelson received his bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Utah, and his J.D. from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, and also studied at Universität Konstanz, in Konstanz, Germany.  He practiced law, primarily in banking and finance, in New York City and Germany for 32 years. He was then Area Legal Counsel for the Europe Area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, for four years, which assignment included issues of freedom of religion, the interplay between law and religion and interfaith dialogue and support. After finishing his Area Legal Counsel assignment, he acted as Senior Counsel for the Church for two years in Salt Lake City, Utah, overseeing the legal affairs of various departments of the Church. Upon his retirement, he was appointed Senior Fellow of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies in July 2022, together with his wife, Janet, after affiliating with the Center for more than 15 years.

Adesina J. Olukanni

Adesina J. Olukanni joined the Center as a Senior Fellow for Africa upon his retirement in late 2016 after nearly a decade of service in Public Affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Africa. He has served in numerous Church positions, including high counsellor, branch president, district president’s counsellor, district president, mission president’s counsellor, stake president, Area Seventy, and counsellor in the Africa West Area Presidency. He was the Country Director in Nigeria for Church Education Systems of the Church between April 2004 and March 2007. He came into Public Affairs in April of 2007 as the Director of Public Affairs for the Church in the Africa West Area and the Africa South East Area. He served as Director in the Afrfica West Area … More …

Erlend “Pete” Peterson

Erlend “Pete” Peterson is currently serving as a Senior Fellow for the Middle East in the BYU International Center for Law and Religious Studies. Prior to accepting this invitation, Pete retired from Brigham Young University having completed fifty years of full-time employment. At the time of Pete’s retirement, he had served as BYU’s Associate International Vice President for fifteen years. Prior to that, he served in several professional positions in Admissions and Records—with twenty-seven years as Assistant Dean, Associate Dean and Dean.  Pete became involved in Brigham Young University’s international efforts in 1973 when he was named assistant dean of the Division of Admissions and Records and given responsibility for Brigham Young University’s special international… More …

Ruth Lybbert Renlund

Salt Lake City Attorney Ruth Lybbert Renlund is former president of the law firm Dewsnup, King & Olsen, a firm she helped form and where she practiced plaintiff civil litigation for 20 years. Before this, she was for three years assistant attorney general of the State of Utah and served on the board of directors for the Deseret News, Murdock Travel, and the Workers Compensation Fund of Utah. She was a member of the Utah Supreme Court’s Committee on Professionalism and chair of the Judicial Conduct Commission for the State of Utah. She was the first female president of the Utah Trial Lawyers Association.  After receiving a bachelor’s degree in history and a teaching certificate from the University of Utah, Ruth taught high school English and debate in Utah for a time, before earning a juris doctorate from the University of Maryland … More …

Gene Schaerr

The International Center for Law and Religion Studies is honored to add Gene Schaerr to its distinguished group of Senior Fellows.  Mr. Schaerr specializes in handling—and usually winning—civil appeals, writ proceedings and similar matters, both in appellate courts and in the law-focused proceedings at the trial-court or agency level that often determine success or failure on appeal.  He has argued and won dozens of cases in a variety of forums—including the U.S. Supreme Court (where he has argued six cases), every federal circuit, and numerous federal district courts and state appellate courts.  His win rate in the dozens of federal appeals he has argued in the past six years is over 75 percent. He was a coordinator of Sidley Austin’s appellate practice from 1993 until 2005, and from 2005 until 2014 was the chair of the nationwide appellate practice at Winston & Strawn—a practice he led to numerous recognitions … More …

Gordon H. Smith

The International Center for Law and Religion Studies is honored announce that former United States Senator Gordon H. Smith has agreed to join the work of the Center as a Senior Fellow.  Before his election to the U.S. Senate in 1996, Senator Smith was elected to the Oregon State Senate, rising to the position of president of that body after only three years. Senator Smith served the State of Oregon in the US Senate from January 3, 1997, to January 3, 2009.  He was the first individual to run for a state’s two United States Senate seats in one calendar year.  He served on the Special Committee on Aging  in the One Hundred Ninth Congress. During his Senate tenure Senator Smith’s committee assignments included the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, the panel that oversees all broadcast-related legislation. He also served on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Senate Finance … More …

Donlu D. Thayer

Following her retirement from Brigham Young University at the end of 2019, Donlu DeWitt Thayer assumed a role as Senior Fellow for the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, where she was most recently Publications Director. During her more than ten years with the Center, Donlu oversaw print and electronic publications, including building and managing the Center’s websites — the ICLRS website and its companion database, Religlaw. She also managed the website and case table of the Strasbourg Consortium, which tracked the freedom-of-religion-or-belief jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. She developed the Center projects Law and Religion Headlines and the blog, Talk About: Law and Religion. She was instrumental in the development of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion in 2012, serving first as Case Note Editor and then until 2021 as an Associate Editor. More …

Patrick J. Thurston

A longtime associate and supporter of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Patrick Thurston is an attorney with the law firm Kirton & McConkie, where his practice covers a broad range of international matters, including corporate legal structure issues, not-for-profit matters, real estate sales and acquisitions, and other international transactions. He also assists clients with a variety of domestic business and corporate matters. Since July 2008, Patrick has worked in the Dominican Republic, supervising a client’s legal matters in the Caribbean area, including corporate work, legal compliance, employment, immigration, real estate acquisition, construction, and legal compliance issues. Before joining Kirton & McConkie in 2006, Mr. Thurston practiced law in the… More …

Mark & Janette Cressler

IAC Emeritus

After a career in real estate development, Mark entered full-time service with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is currently assigned to the Special Projects Department where his primary responsibilities are the selection and recommendation of Church temple sites and other strategic assignments. Mark was born in California and was raised in Germany. He is married to Janette Smith Cressler, and they are the parents of five children.

Diane W. Wilkins

Diane W. Wilkins is a graduate of the University of Utah in political science (B.S. ’75,  cum laude) and Law (JD ’78).  She has been a Deputy County Attorney, an Assistant Attorney General, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, and a state level trial judge, all in Utah.  Judge Wilkins has served as Associate Area Legal Counsel in the Pacific Area (2014-2016), assisting in managing the legal work of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 19 countries of the Pacific Area, and most recently completed service as an International Fellow of the ICLRS in Europe (2017-2019), living in both Brussels, Belgium and later in Strasbourg, France.  That assignment took her to a number of European countries meeting with government officials, judges, scholars, and others interested in the cause of religious liberty and the rule of law.  During her professional career she has served in a variety of leadership roles in governmental, judicial, civic, and religious organizations. … More

Michael J. Wilkins

Michael J. Wilkins is a graduate of the University of Utah (B.S. ’75) (JD ’77) and the University of Virginia Law School (LL.M. ’00).  After time in private law practice in Salt Lake City, he was appointed a judge of the Utah Court of Appeals (1994-2000), and later as a Justice of the Utah Supreme Court (2000-2010).    Justice Wilkins has enjoyed serving as an Associate Area Legal Counsel (2014-2016) in the Pacific area of the Church, and an International Fellow of the ICLRS (2017-2019) in Europe.  He presently serves as Chair of the Utah Commission on Uniform State Laws (2007-present), and a member of the European Law Institute (2018-present).  He has been an adjunct lecturer in law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School, Chair of the Utah Legislative Ethics Commission, a Utah Bar Examiner, and served in other governmental, judicial, civic, and religious positions. . . .  More