​Elbert Guillory was born in Opelousas, Louisiana, and graduated from J.S. Clark High School. He became active in the Civil Rights Movement during the late 1950’s. Then joined the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. He finished college while in the Navy and was accepted into several of the nation's top law schools. He graduated from Rutgers Law School and taught at Rutgers Law.

He worked for the state governments of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and at age 29, he ran his first state agency in Maryland. He was also chosen to run cabinet level agencies for Illinois and Seattle, Washington, and to work in the Nixon administration in Washington, DC..

Guillory spent 50 years as a criminal defense lawyer and served in the Louisiana House of Representatives and Louisiana Senate. He was Legislator of the Year twice in his first 6 years and was admitted to the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame for his work in law and government.

Elbert attended New York Theological Seminary and he is an ordained minister.