Bruce Laxalt was born and raised in Reno, Nevada, living two years as a child in southern France. He attended Stanford University, obtaining a degree in philosophy in 1973 and studying creative writing under Albert J. Guerard. After graduating from Stanford Law School in 1976, he worked as a lawyer with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., for a year. He returned to Nevada, where he has practiced law since, first as a homicide prosecutor, and later as a civil litigator.