Robert McCullough was born in Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk is an independent city in southeastern Virginia on the Hampton Roads harbor, and its port and maritime activity made it one of the state's major urban centers. Its Atlantic coastal location connected the city with commercial shipping and naval traffic that shaped its development in the twentieth century.
McCullough's education is associated with the Memphis State University Law Review, the student-run journal of the law school at Memphis State University in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis State University held that name from 1957 until 1994, and its law school was founded in 1962 as the Memphis State University College of Law.
The journal's predecessor, the Memphis State University Law Commentary, began publishing in 1968 in a loose-leaf format. It was reformatted as a regular journal in 1970 under the name Memphis State University Law Review, and in 1994 it became known as the University of Memphis Law Review, the year the university itself adopted that name.
McCullough practiced law in New Orleans, Louisiana, and his documented position there is partner. Louisiana's legal system is distinctive because its civil law tradition derives from French and Spanish colonial law, which sets the state apart from most other American states.
Federal cases arising in New Orleans fall within the Fifth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals whose jurisdiction includes Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. Practice in the city therefore involves both Louisiana state courts and the federal courts of the Fifth Circuit.
McCullough is a member of four bar organizations in Louisiana and the United States. The New Orleans Bar Association, founded in 1924, represents the interests of lawyers and judges in the New Orleans area and promotes justice, continuing legal education, and the enhancement of the legal profession.
The Louisiana State Bar Association traces its roots to the Association of the Bar of New Orleans, founded in 1847. It was established as a voluntary organization in 1929, and in 1941 the Louisiana Supreme Court formally created it as the mandatory integrated bar for lawyers practicing in the state.
The American Bar Association, formed in Saratoga Springs, New York, on August 21, 1878, is a voluntary national association of lawyers and law students that works to advance the administration of justice and sets standards for legal education. The Federal Bar Association, a professional organization for lawyers who practice in federal courts and agencies, completes this group of memberships.
