[11][6][12]: 32 [13] After the death of her husband, Stella Oaks suffered an episode of mental illness and was unable to attend school and work for a time.

After his father died, his mother pursued a graduate degree at Columbia University and later served as head of adult education for the Provo School District.

According to historian Lavina Fielding Anderson, Oaks was the first lawyer from Kirkland & Ellis to represent an indigent party before the Illinois Supreme Court.

In 1963, Oaks edited a book entitled The Wall Between Church and State covering discussions on views on the relationship of the government and religion in the law and the aptness of that metaphor.

He also wrote an article on the school prayer cases aimed at a lay audience that was published in the LDS Church's Improvement Era in December 1963.

Unlike his predecessor, Oaks took a hands-off approach to the discipline of the university students specifically in relation to the Church Educational System Honor Code.

[49] Other major changes under Oaks included implementing a three-semester plan with full fall and winter semesters, and a split spring and summer term.

[50] During his tenure at BYU, enrollment grew twenty percent; the average class size was maintained at thirty-four students.

[12]: 36–37  While at BYU, Oaks led an effort to fight the application of Title IX to non-educational programs at schools that did not accept direct government aid.

In 1975, what was then the U.S. Department of Housing, Education and Welfare, tried an unsuccessful attempt to state that BYU's honor code was in some way discriminatory based on sex.

[54] During his presidency, he co-authored Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith with BYU professor of history Marvin S. Hill.

Oaks struggled during his presidency to distance BYU and the LDS Church from the partisan political atmosphere that had become typical under Wilkinson.

During the Oaks administration, Skousen claimed to have been authorized to teach a new course about "Priesthood and Righteous Government", which would be published clandestinely under the name "Gospel Principles and Practices".

Not long afterward, Oaks became upset when he learned that Benson had invited activist Phyllis Schlafy to address students despite having been rejected by the Speakers Committee previously due to her "extreme" views.

[26] In 1975, Oaks was listed by U.S. attorney general Edward H. Levi among potential Gerald Ford Supreme Court candidates.

In California v. Minjares,[57] Justice William H. Rehnquist, in a dissenting opinion, wrote "[t]he most comprehensive study on the exclusionary rule is probably that done by Dallin Oaks for the American Bar Foundation in 1970.

[58] According to this article, it is an open question whether the exclusionary rule deters the police from violating Fourth Amendment protections of individuals.

He opined that while the destruction of the Expositor's printing press was legally questionable, under the law of the time the newspaper certainly could have been declared libelous and therefore a public nuisance by the Nauvoo City Council.

In In Re J. P.,[61] a proceeding was instituted on a petition of the Division of Family Services to terminate parental rights of child J.P.'s natural mother.

After he returned to the Chicago Metro Area after being a clerk to Justice Warren, Oaks was a counselor in the ward Sunday School presidency starting in 1959.

[41] During part of his time as BYU president, Oaks served as a regional representative, assigned to oversee some of the stakes in the Salt Lake Valley.

On April 7, 1984, during the Saturday morning session of the LDS Church's general conference, Oaks was sustained an apostle and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.

In addition to advisory and operational duties, as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Oaks is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.

[76] Of the shift from judge to apostolic witness, Oaks commented, "Many years ago, Thomas Jefferson coined the metaphor, 'the wall between church and state.'

The assignment of Oaks, along with Jeffrey R. Holland, who served in Chile at the same time, was aimed at addressing challenges in developing areas of the church, including rapid growth in membership, focus on retention of new converts, and training local leadership.

[79] During his first year as president, Oaks and his counselors, Angel Abrea and Richard J. Maynes, focused on three main goals: teaching doctrine and building faith, shifting efforts more towards retention, and establishing programs of activity for youth.

[80] In his second year there, Abrea was replaced by Rex E. Garrett and increasing both temple attendance and the number of Filipinos serving missions were added to their focus.

[82][83] In April 2015, included as part of an assignment to tour Argentina, Oaks gave a speech on religious freedom to the Argentine Council for International Relations.

[86] On June 1, 2018, Oaks gave the opening address at the First Presidency-sponsored "Be One" event, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the revelation extending the priesthood and access to temple ordinances, such as the endowment and sealing, to all worthy males, regardless of race.

[88] On October 27, 2020, he gave a BYU devotional address in which he again touched on this topic, explicitly endorsing the message "Black lives matter" while also discouraging its use to advance controversial propositions.