Cound received his B.A. degree from George Washington University. He took a short break during his undergrad years at GWU to serve in the U.S. Army, months before WWII came to an end. He earned an LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School, where he graduated, magna cum laude, and was Note Editor of the Harvard Law Review. Upon completion of his LL.B. degree, Cound clerked for Judge Learned Hand on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He then served as an attorney for the Appellate Section of the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice. The first case that Cound helped handle at the Department of Justice was Brown v. Board of Education.

Cound joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School in 1956. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of California at Los Angeles Law School and has taught at the University of North Carolina School of Law, University of Texas School of Law, University of Georgia School of Law, University of Kentucky College of Law, Washington University School of Law, Hamline University School of Law, and the Christian Albrechts Universitat in Kiel, Germany. He also has served on the faculty of the Association of American Law Schools Orientation Program in American Law.

Cound is a prolific scholar and has published a number of important academic works. These include: Civil Procedure: Cases and Materials (1st ed. 1968 & Supp. 1968, 2d ed. 1974, 3d ed. 1980, 4th ed. 1985) (with Jack H. Friedenthal & Arthur R. Miller), Civil Procedure Supplement (1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985) (with Jack H. Friedenthal & Arthur R. Miller), Minnesota Jury Instruction Guides, Criminal (1977) (reporter), Pleading, Joinder, and Discovery: Cases and Materials (1968) (with Jack H. Friedenthal & Arthur R. Miller).

He currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife Jeanne.