[2] His father, a law graduate and a revenue officer working for the Travancore Corporation, died due to typhoid, when Menon was two years old and he was brought up by his mother, with the assistance of her brothers and sisters.

[11] Menon started his career in 1955, as an apprentice to a locally known lawyer, V. Nagappan Nair, and assisted him for thirteen months.

On the advice of his teacher and mentor, A.T. Markose, the first director of the Indian Law Institute and the author of Judicial Control of Administrative Action in India,[12] he took up the job at Central Secretariat in New Delhi.

[2] While working at the secretariat, Menon continued his studies at Campus College located at Gole Market, affiliated to Punjab University and secured a post graduate degree (MA) in political science with distinction, in 1960.

Teaching and doing part-time job as the warden of the Sir Syed Hall at the university, he completed his research to obtain PhD in 1965, relocated to Delhi, and married Rema Devi, the same year.

During his stint there, he received a Fulbright Scholarship from the American Council of Learned Societies and had the opportunity to present a paper on "Legal Aid" at Berkeley, California.

He has served as a member of the Committee for Implementing Legal Aid Schemes (CILAS), which was formed under the chairmanship of V. R. Krishna Iyer, by the Indira Gandhi government, in connection with the Garibi Hatao programme.

Menon worked at NLSIU for twelve years as the director, moving after the institution gained university status.

He headed the central government committee constituted to draft the National Policy on Criminal Justice and served as the Commission on Equal Opportunity.

[2][3][21] He was also a recipient of the Rotary Club Award for Vocational Excellence and the Plaque of Honour from the Bar Council of India.

[2] The Government of India included Menon, in 2003, in the Republic Day honours list, for the civilian award of Padma Shri.

[4][21] His Socratic method of teaching, involving participation of law students in legal clinics, is considered by many as an innovation.

Menon wrote his autobiography, The Story of a Law Teacher: Turning Point,[2] besides publishing several books, articles and monographs on a variety of legal subjects.