Born in Siloam Springs, Arkansas on March 22, 1901, Robert Allen Leflar was one of the foremost legal minds in the state of Arkansas, serving as the longtime dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law and presiding over two statewide constitutional conventions.

After graduating from the University of Arkansas in 1922, Leflar served as a teacher in several locations, before enrolling at Harvard Law School in 1927, graduating with a Doctorate in Judicial Sciences in 1932. Soon after his graduation, Leflar was hired to teach at the new University of Arkansas School of Law. Leflar would be appointed Dean in 1943, a position he would relinquish in 1954, although he still continued to teach at Arkansas for most of his remaining life. In addition to more traditional classroom instruction, Leflar also led seminars providing legal training and professional development opportunities to Arkansas state legislators and federal and state judges.

Robert A. Leflar was known to be a strong supporter of racial equality, admitting Silas Hunt to the Law School in 1948 as its first African-American student and paving the way for other students to be admitted. He also served as an attorney for the War Relocation Authority, the federal agency which oversaw the forced relocation of Japanese-American citizens during World War Two, from 1942-1944. Leflar also strongly advocated for major constitutional reform in Arkansas and served as president of both the 1969 and the 1979-1980 conventions.

Leflar would be married twice; his first marriage to Doris Drake ended in divorce in 1945, while his second, to Helen Finger, lasted until her 1991 death. Leflar had 3 children: an adoptive daughter named Helen with Doris Drale, and two sons, Robert B. and Charles, with Helen Finger. Robert Leflar passed away on July 8, 1997 in Fayetteville.