Preliminary Inventory of the Paul Bender Papers

Paul Bender was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1933. He graduated from Harvard College cum laude with his A.B. in physics in 1954 and from Harvard Law School magna cum laude with his LL.B. in 1957. Bender married Margaret Thomas in 1955 and the couple had two children, John F. (1965-) and Matthew L. (1967-).

Bender began his career as a Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellow at Harvard University (1957-1958) and went on to clerk for Judge Learned Hand of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1958-1959) and for Justice Felix Frankfurter of the Supreme Court of the United States (1959-1960). He accepted an academic position at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1960 and served as an Assistant (1960-1963), Associate (1963-1966), and Full Professor (1966-1984) in addition to working as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Stanford Law School (Summer of 1962). Bender came to Arizona State University in 1984, where he worked as the Dean of the College of Law (1984-1989) and as a Professor of Law (1984-). He specializes in constitutional law, Indian law, individual rights, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Bender also practiced privately, serving as an Associate for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (1957), as an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States (Summer 1963, Summer 1964, 1965-1966), and as Principal Deputy Solicitor of the United States (1993-1996).