After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from Auburn University in 1949 and his Juris Doctor 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 Master of Laws from Harvard Law School, after which he clerked for United States Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black for one year.
In 1970, he returned to the University of Virginia School of Law, where he remained on the faculty until his retirement in 1994.
One of this office's proposals resulted in the creation of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Despite developing blindness in the late 1970s, Meador continued his legal work for many years thereafter.