[1] Corcoran earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Iona College in 1954 and his Juris Doctor from Fordham University in 1957.
A few years later, Corcoran joined the Maricopa County Attorney's Office as a criminal prosecutor, where he worked from 1962 to 1964.
As a result of his efforts in the Miranda case, Corcoran received the ACLU Civil Libertarian of the Year Award.
[2] He left private practice in 1976 and was appointed to the Maricopa County Superior Court under Arizona's recently enacted Merit Selection System.
One of Corcoran's favorite quotes, "where law ends, tyranny begins," was carved above the formal entrance to the Arizona State Courts Building when it was constructed in 1991.