Brigham Young University President C. Shane Reese has announced that David H. Moore has been named the new dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.
Moore, who joined BYU Law in 2008, will replace D. Gordon Smith on July 1, 2023. Smith, who has been serving as dean of BYU’s law school since 2016, will return to teaching and research at the law school following a sabbatical.
Moore comes to this position holding the Sterling and Eleanor Colton Endowed Chair in Law and as the associate director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies. He is a scholar of foreign relations law, international law, international human rights and international development.
“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.”
In making this announcement, Reese paid tribute to Smith and expressed appreciation for his seven years of service to BYU Law.
“Gordon has made important contributions to the university and BYU Law,” said Reese. “Under his leadership, BYU Law is flourishing and has made significant transformation in key areas, including legal innovation, technology, law and corpus linguistics, scholarship and global engagement. We will miss his leadership at BYU Law but know that our students will be blessed by his return to the classroom.”
Before joining BYU, Moore clerked for US Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. He has researched and taught at George Washington University Law School, University of Kentucky College of Law and University of Chicago Law School. Additionally, he was an Honor Program trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch.
As a teacher, Moore has been recognized with BYU’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.
A former associate dean for academic affairs and research at BYU Law, Moore’s publications have appeared in the Harvard, Columbia, NYU and Virginia Law Reviews, among others.
Along with his work with the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, which seeks to secure the blessings of freedom of religion or belief for people worldwide, 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 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 as the Acting Deputy Administrator and General Counsel of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the federal government’s lead agency for international development and humanitarian assistance.
Moore is a graduate of BYU’s law school, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Law Review. He received a bachelor of art’s degree from BYU.
