Washington, D.C. native Maurice H. Merrill graduated from high school in Stratford, Oklahoma, and earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Oklahoma (1919 and 1922) and Harvard (1925) before practicing law for a short while in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He then taught at the universities of Idaho and Nebraska before returning to Norman as assistant professor of law in 1928, where he was named research professor in 1950 and George Lynn Cross Research Professor Emeritus in 1968. He spent more than 30 years of his 42-year academic career at OU before retiring from teaching to enter into a private law practice. The Golden Quill Award is named in Merrill's honor and is given to the author of the best written article published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal. He was nationally known for his expertise in oil and gas law and was a member of the Commission on Uniform State Laws and the Oklahoma and American Bar associations.