Edward Archer Tollefson attended Saskatoon's Nutana Collegiate before enrolling at the University of Saskatchewan, where he earned both a BA (1954) and a LL.B. (1956). Tollefson went on to study law at Oxford on an IODE overseas scholarship and was awarded a BCL in 1958. He joined the faculty of the College of Law that year as an Instructor and received several promotions before becoming a full Professor in 1968. He resigned in the spring of 1971. He taught courses in constitutional law, legal process and remedies, legal writing, evidence and comparative law. He also authored the book "Bitter Medicine" (1964), an overview of medical care legislation in Western Canada.