David H. Moore Named Dean of BYU Law School

PROVO, Utah, June 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Brigham Young University President Shane Reese today announced the appointment of David H. Moore as the next dean of BYU Law. The Sterling and Eleanor Colton Endowed Chair and Associate Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, will begin his five-year term as dean on July 1, 2023. He replaces D. Gordon Smith who has served as dean of the law school since 2016. Smith plans to return to the faculty where he previously taught classes in business associations, contracts, corporate finance, law and entrepreneurship, and securities regulation. 

"David has a strong vision for the positive impact that BYU Law can have on BYU and for the future of our students both in and out of the classroom," said Reese. "His academic and legal credentials are outstanding, but I am most impressed with his commitment to the spiritual mission of the university and his keen understanding of BYU Law's unique approach to legal education."

Moore joined the BYU Law faculty in 2008, where he has taught international law, international human rights, U.S. foreign relations law, civil procedure, legal scholarship, a plenary powers colloquium, and international human rights and international religious freedom clinics. From 2016 to 2017, he was the Associate Dean for Research and Academic Affairs at the law school. A scholar of foreign relations law, international law, international human rights, and international development, Moore's publications have appeared in the Harvard, Columbia, NYU, and Virginia Law reviews, among others.

Before joining the BYU Law faculty, Moore clerked for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. during the U.S. Supreme Court's 2007 Term, having begun his legal career as an Honor Program trial attorney at the US Department of Justice, Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch. Moore previously taught at the University of Kentucky College of Law, as a visiting professor at George Washington University Law School, and as an Olin Fellow at the University of Chicago Law. As a teacher, he has been recognized with the University's R. Wayne Hansen Teaching and Learning Fellowship, the BYU Law Alumni Association Teacher of the Year Award, the Student Bar Association First Year Professor of the Year Award and the Student Bar Association Distinguished Service Award. He is a member of the American Law Institute.

As a human rights expert, Moore has served on the roster of experts of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Moscow Mechanism. In 2020, he was elected to a brief term on the United Nations Human Rights Committee, a body of independent experts that oversees states' compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Between 2017 and 2019, Moore served, variously, as the Acting Deputy Administrator and General Counsel of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the federal government's lead agency for international development and humanitarian assistance.

Moore has served as an Associate Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies since 2019, having been involved with the Center since his days as a law student. Part of BYU Law, the ICLRS, which seeks to secure the blessings of freedom and religion or belief for everyone, everywhere, is a global academic leader in the field of international religious freedom.

Moore is a summa cum laude graduate of BYU Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review and graduated first in his class. He received his BA from Brigham Young University, where he graduated summa cum laude, with University Honors, as co-valedictorian of his college, and first in his class.

BYU Law, which marks its 50^th anniversary this year, held its first classes in August 1973. The school has become one of the nation's leading law schools, pioneering several areas of legal education, including law and corpus linguistics, international business law, religious freedom and legal technology initiatives, among other disciplines. In its most recent rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked the law school as 22^nd out of 196 schools.

About BYU Law School
Founded in 1971 with its inaugural class in 1973, the J. Reuben Clark Law School (BYU Law) has grown into one of the nation's leading law schools – recognized for innovative research and teaching in social change, transactional design, entrepreneurship, corpus linguistics, criminal justice and religious freedom. The Law School has more than 6,000 alumni serving in communities around the world. National Jurist recognized BYU Law as the #1 best-value law school in its 2021 and 2022 rankings. BYU Law also earned its highest U.S. news ranking to date, coming in at No. 22 in the U.S. News 2024 Best Law School rankings. For more information, visit https://law.byu.edu.

Contact: Kristin Brocoff, Account Director, 949-400-4899, [email protected] 

SOURCE BYU Law