Karla Bell works in the chambers of Judge David Dowd, a federal judge who sits in the Northern District of Ohio.

After 13 years of private practice, first as an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles, and then as a partner at McKittrick, Jackson, DeMarco & Peckenpaugh in Newport Beach, Bell retired from practice and began an active volunteer career, serving as one of the founding members of Pro-Choice Orange County, a bi-partisan PAC. She also taught constitutional law, first at Chapman University in Orange, California and then at Cleveland State University. For seven years Bell was a professor at Case Western University School of Law, where she headed the Appellate Practice program, which focused on constitutional law, and effective written and oral advocacy. She has been a regular speaker at Continuing Legal Education seminars hosted by the Northeast Chapter of the American Constitution Society.

Bell graduated cum laude, with honors in social studies from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and received her law degree from University of Chicago Law School.

She is the mother/step-mother of five children.