His father, Milton Reese Merrill, was a professor of political science and top academic administrator of Utah State University, becoming Vice President and Dean of the School of Commerce.
[3][4] He married Elizabeth "Lissa" Merrill in 1961 and moved to New York City to attend Columbia Law School, where he received a LL.B.
[1] Merrill clerked for Judge Carl McGowan on the D.C. Court of Appeals following graduation before joining the law firm Covington & Burling.
[5] In 1980, he was selected to be the seventh Dean of the University of Virginia School of Law, a position he held until 1988.
He returned to Covington & Burling as special counsel consulting on food and drug and other regulatory matters.