Paul M. Bator was born in 1929 in Budapest. Hungary, and moved with his parents to the United States in 1939. He attended Groton School and received his A.B. summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1951 where he was valedictorian. He earned a master's degree in history from Harvard University in 1953 and graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he served as editor of the Harvard Law Review. From 1956-57 he served as law clerk to Justice John M. Harlan II of the United States Supreme Court.