Richard Shepro received his undergraduate degree in economics and history from Harvard and continued his studies at the London School of Economics. He then attended the Harvard Law School, where he was Supreme Court note editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he clerked for the Honorable James R. Browning, Chief Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He joined Mayer, Brown in 1981, has been a partner since 1986, and was co-head of the Corporate and Securities Law practices for many years.

Mr. Shepro's practice involves complex business transactions, special problems and securities law, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions and international matters. He is the author (with Leo Herzel) of Bidders and Targets: Mergers and Acquisitions in the U.S. (1990) and has written extensively for US and foreign publications on the legal and economic aspects of corporation and securities law. He has lectured at law and business schools and professional associations in the United States and Europe. He was elected to membership in the American Law Institute in 1993 and is listed in many publications as one of the leading lawyers in the world.

Mr. Shepro is also recognized as an authority on the legal issues relating to food and wine, and has published nine academic papers on US, French, Italian and European community legal issues involving law, gastronomy, and covering such topics as banned foods, international protected designations, food and political power, and historical topics and recent controversies. He has lectured widely on these topics in multiple countries. He is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery and the president of the Alliance Française de Chicago.