Daniel John Meador (December 7, 1926 – February 9, 2013) was an American legal scholar who taught at the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

and the University of Alabama School of Law.

Early life and education

Meador was born on December 7, 1926, in

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. About ...

. After receiving his B.S. degree from

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

in 1949 and his J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1951, he served as a Judge Advocate General in the United States Army during the Korean War. In 1954, after returning to the United States, he received his

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, after which he clerked for United States Supreme Court Justice

Hugo Black Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. A ...

for one year.

Career

In 1957, Meador joined the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Law. He remained a faculty member there until 1966, when he left the faculty to become Dean of the University of Alabama School of Law. In 1970, he returned to the University of Virginia School of Law, where he remained on the faculty until his retirement in 1994. From 1980 to 1995, he was founding director of the University of Virginia's Graduate Program for Judges. He received multiple awards from the University of Virginia, including the Thomas Jefferson Award, the Raven Award, and the Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award. He served as an assistant attorney general in the United States Department of Justice from 1977 to 1979, in which capacity he organized the Office for Improvements in the Administration of Justice. One of this office's proposals resulted in the creation of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Personal life

Meador was married to his first wife, Jan, for 52 years prior to her death in 2008. Despite developing blindness in the late 1970s, Meador continued his legal work for many years thereafter. Meador died on February 9, 2013, at the age of 86, after a brief illness. He was survived by his second wife, Alice Meador, as well as by three children, seven grandchildren, and a brother.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meador, Daniel John 1926 births 2013 deaths People from Selma, Alabama Auburn University alumni University of Alabama School of Law alumni Harvard Law School alumni Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States University of Virginia School of Law faculty University of Alabama faculty