contest the claim.

As one of his fellow adjusters was taking correspondence course in law from the LaSalle Extension University in Chicago he decided to enroll. Persisting in his correspondence courses, he received a degree in law from the school in 1930. Along with nineteen other graduates from correspondence schools he took the Utah Bar Exam in 1930. Only four of them passed. Besides Rulon the four included Scott Matheson the recent governor of Utah. Graduates of the Univeristy of utah law school in those days were not required to take the bar exam.

Shortly afterwards the Union Pacific Railroad bought out the Oregon Short Line and planned to move the claims department to their central offices in Omaha, Nebraska offering the former Orgeon Short Line Employees employment at reduced salaries. Rulon resigned joining the law firm of Hurd and Hurd. He took cases on a contingency base meaning that he virtually had to find his own cases. When the full depression hit, Rulon and his family like so many other families went through some very difficult times. As legal cases grew scarce, he had a hard time meeting his financial responsibilities. Unable to keep up payments on his house, he just walked away letting the financial institution repossess it. In one interview he mentioned that he emptied his checking account, paid his last one hundred dollars to the hospital to cover family medical expenses, and was totally broke. For some time he said that he "just managed to eke out an existence." He and his sons grew vegetables and fruit on their lot in Farmington and with contributions from his brothers and other farming relatives managed to squeak by.

He became involved in the political activities of the Democratic party as many of his close friends from his school days were Democrats including such men as Henry H. Blood who became governor of Utah in 1932; Calvin W. Rawlings, Salt Lake County Democratic Party Chairman. As virtually all state, county and city positions in those days were political, office holders lost their jobs when a new administration came in power. Existing juvenile court judges were dismissed, and the Democrats were looking for suitable party members to replace them. Rulon was asked if he would accept the position of a juvenile court judge in Salt Lake County. In need of a regular dependable salary and interested in the challenges of the job, he accepted the position and served some 26 years. 

As a juvenile Court Judge, he developed a national reputation for his ability to rehabilitate young people in trouble and to create institutions to better serve their needs. Many outstanding people in Utah appeared in his court as troubled teenagers and have stated that it was the counseling, the compassion and the deep interest that Judge Rulon Clark took in the them that helped them to straighten out their lives.

He won the respect of his fellow juvenile court judges across the nation and held many positions in the National Council

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