Robert Ernest Keeton (December 16, 1919 – July 2, 2007) was an American lawyer, jurist, and legal scholar. As a law professor at Harvard Law School and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts he was known for his work on torts, insurance law, and practical courtroom tactics. Keeton, with Jeffrey O'Connell of the University of Virginia School of Law, played a key role in the advancement of no-fault automobile insurance.
Robert Ernest Keeton
Born 1919 in Clarksville, TX
Died 2007 in Cambridge, MA
FJC ID: 1242
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 4/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 55/year
Massachusetts District Court · 1979–2006Massachusetts District Court · 1979–2006
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Harvard UniversityFaculty · 1953–1979
- ↳assistant professor · 1954–1956
- ↳professor of law · 1956–1973
- ↳Langdell professor of law · 1973–1979
- ↳associate dean · 1975–1979
- National Institute for Trial AdvocacyDirector · 1971–1979
- Southern Methodist UniversityAssociate professor · 1951–1953
- Private practice, Houston, Texas1941–1942, 1945–1951
- U.S. Naval Reserve lieutenant1942–1945
Appointments
1979–2006 · Appointed by Jimmy Carter (Democratic)Term ended: Retirement
Education
S.J.D. · 1956
LL.B. · 1941- University of TexasB.B.A. · 1940