Gary Doxey

Gary B. Doxey is a research/administrative professor at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark School of Law and associate director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies. Though employed through the law school, he has a full-time teaching assignment in BYU’s History Department, where he was formerly a member of the regular teaching faculty.

The center is a global leader in the field of international and comparative law relating to religious organizations and religious freedom. As part of his work with the center, Doxey has helped organize dozens of academic activities with leading universities around the world and has consulted on legislative reform initiatives in several countries.

Professor Doxey joined the center in 2005 and currently leads its work in Latin America and assists in other regions of the world. His research and teaching include a focus on religious liberty in history. He is a regular speaker at international conferences and has authored a variety of amicus briefs, commentaries, articles, and legislative initiatives.

Professor Doxey’s career has been divided between academia and public service. Before joining the law school, he was chief of staff and general counsel, respectively, to Utah governors Olene Walker and Michael Leavitt. He served earlier as Utah’s deputy commissioner of financial institutions and as associate general counsel to the Utah Legislature. He currently serves as chair of the Independent Executive Branch Ethics Commission for the State of Utah.

He has a PhD in History from Cambridge University and a JD and BA from Brigham Young University. He speaks or reads several languages.

He and his wife Debbie Burnett are natives of Salt Lake City. They are the parents of six children and have seven grandchildren. They served together, accompanied by all six of their children, as mission leaders presiding over the Mexico City South Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2006 to 2009. Professor Doxey served as an Area Seventy of the Church from 2011 to 2016.