Robert Ernest Keeton (1919-2007) served on the Harvard Law School faculty from 1953 to 2007. He was an Ezra Ripley Thayer Teaching Fellow 1953-1954; Assistant Professor of Law 1954-1956; Professor of Law 1956-1973; Langdell Professor of Law 1973-1979; Associate Dean of the Faculty of Law 1975-1979; and an Emeritus professor 1979-2007.
Research: Insurance, judging, torts, trial practice.
Education: University of Texas B.B.A. 1940, LL.B. 1941; Harvard Law School S.J.D. 1956.
Selected Scholarship / Representative Publications: “Trial Tactics and Methods” (first published 1954); “Cases and Materials on the Law of Torts” (co-author, first published 1957); “Basic Insurance Law” casebook (first published 1960); “Basic Protection for the Traffic Victim” (1965); “Venturing to do Justice: Reforming Private Law” (first published 1969); “Judging” (1990).
Noteworthy Appointments: Director, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 1971-1979; Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 1979-2006.