Hans Linde attended school in Berlin, Germany and Copenhagen, Denmark until his family moved to Portland, Oregon in 1939. He attended Lincoln High School in Portland, and earned a B.A. from Reed College in 1947, after army service in World War II, and a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law in 1950. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Order of the Coif and served as the editor-in-chief of the "California Law Review" (1949–1950) (see Notes, 36 Cal. L. Rev. 628 (1948) & 37 Cal. L. Rev. 129 (1949)). He was admitted to practice law in Oregon in 1950.