Richard Allen Posner

Richard Allen Posner is an American jurist and economist who was a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago from 1981 until 2017, and is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He is a leading figure in the field of law and economics, and was identified by The Journal of Legal Studies as the most cited legal scholar of the 20th century. Posner is known for his scholarly range and for writing on topics outside of his primary field, law. In his various writings and books, he has addressed animal rights, feminism, drug prohibition, gay marriage, Keynesian economics, and academic moral philosophy, among other subjects. Posner is the author of nearly 40 books on jurisprudence, economics, and several other topics, including Economic Analysis of Law, The Economics of Justice, The Problems of Jurisprudence, Sex and Reason, Law, Pragmatism and Democracy, and The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy. On September 1, 2017, Posner announced that he was retiring from the Seventh Circuit, effective the following day.  He has since spoken widely that his retirement was motivated in part by his concern that people without lawyers are mistreated by the legal system, and his plans open a pro bono law firm to serves the needs of this underrepresented population.