A memorial service is planned for early next month for Louis H. Bell, an East Bay lawyer who had also managed the public information office at the University of California at San Francisco.

Mr. Bell, 64, a longtime East Bay resident, died December 12 at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland. He had suffered from emphysema for three decades.

A native of Boston, Mr. Bell came to California in 1947 to attend the University of California at Berkeley. A journalism student, he was editor of the Daily Californian in his senior year. He worked at UCSF in the late 1950s and early '60s before leaving to attend Hastings College of the Law.

After graduating, he worked at the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Library in Berkeley, where he was co-author of a textbook, ''Police Misconduct Litigation: Plaintiff's Remedies.'' He then spent 15 years in private legal practice, with offices in Benicia, Albany and San Pablo. Most recently, he was as a special education assistant at Oakland High School, helping to operate a cafe run by developmentally disabled students.

Mr. Bell was also long active in local politics in Albany.

Survivors include his former wife, Anne, of Albany; three sons: Andrew of Oakland, Christopher of Asheville, N.C., and Peter of New Haven, Conn.; a daughter, Kathleen Spinner, of Seattle, and a sister, Courtenay Bell, also of Seattle.

The family suggests contributions to the Meiklejohn library, 1715 Francisco Street, Berkeley 94709, or to any social services organization.