After earning a Juris Doctor this April, Luke Bell is enthused to move to Austin, Texas, to clerk for Judge Priscilla Owen on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. “I look forward to seeing firsthand how federal courts work and learning from an experienced appellate judge,” he said.
During his last year of law school, Bell had what he calls an “invaluable experience” while serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. “Not only did Law Review help me improve my technical and analytical skills, it also gave me the opportunity to work with an exceptional team to provide a forum for new legal scholarship,” he said. “It was rewarding to see the entire process from article selection to publication.”
While Law Review was one valuable aspect of his legal education, Bell also reveled in the legal curriculum. His long list of favorite classes provides strong evidence: he particularly enjoyed Foreign Relations, Administrative Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Disaster Law. “My brilliant professors taught my classmates and me to synthesize challenging material and carefully analyze legal issues,” he said.
In addition to enjoying his professors’ classes, Bell also benefitted from their advice and mentorship. “Dean Moore not only helped me make the decision to attend BYU, but he was also an outstanding mentor throughout my time in law school,” he said. “Professors Sun, Gerdy, Jennejohn helped me improve my writing as they took the time to review papers and provide feedback.”
As Bell reflects on his law school experience, he credits his classmates for making his law school experience so valuable. “Being surrounded by such gifted classmates was incredible,” he said. “I am constantly impressed by their intelligence and work ethic.” He also credits his wife, Abby, for being a constant support throughout law school. “Perhaps the most important thing law school reinforced for me is that you can’t do it alone,” he said.