Schöch was born in Bessarabia where his family were part of the ethnic German community. The region had been incorporated into the Soviet Union in June 1940, a couple of months before his birth, as part of the territorial carve-up envisaged in the non-aggression pact concluded between Hitler and Stalin the previous summer. Following the ethnic cleansing of the early 1940s he ended up in the US occupation zone of postwar Germany. In 1959 Schöch successfully concluded his schooling in Bad Cannstatt (Stuttgart). He moved on to undertake a General Studies course at in Tübingen. This was followed by work for his law degree at Tübingen and Hamburg. Between 1965 he worked as a research assistant and lecturer at Tübingen's , passing Part 1 of the state law exams in 1965 and Part 2 in 1969. He received his doctorate for basic work on sentencing practice and traffic offences ("Strafzumessungspraxis und Verkehrsdelinquenz") in 1972.