Professor Francione received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Rochester and his M.A. in philosophy and his J.D. from the University of Virginia. He studied philosophy in Great Britain as a Phi Beta Kappa Scholar. He was articles editor of the Virginia Law Review. After graduation, he clerked for the late Judge Albert Tate Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court. He practiced law in New York City before joining the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1984, where he was tenured in 1987. He joined the Rutgers faculty in 1989.

Professor Francione has been teaching animal rights theory and the law for more than 25 years. He has lectured on the topic throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, and has been a guest on numerous radio and television shows. He is well known throughout the animal protection movement for his criticism of animal welfare law and the property status of nonhuman animals, and for his theory of animal rights.

He is the author of numerous books and articles on animal rights theory and animals and the law. His most recent books, coauthored with Anna E. Charlton, are�Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach (2015) and�Eat Like You Care: An Examination of the Morality of Eating Animals (2013). Eat Like You Care has been translated into 12 languages.

Professor Francione and his colleague, adjunct professor Anna E. Charlton, started and operated the Rutgers Animal Rights Law Clinic from 1990-2000, making Rutgers the first university in the United States to have animal rights law as part of the regular academic curriculum and to award students academic credit, not only for classroom work, but also for work on actual cases involving animal issues. Professor Francione currently teaches (with adjunct professor Charlton) a course on Human Rights and Animal Rights, and a seminar on Animal Rights Theory and the Law.

Professor Francione also teaches courses in Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure,Torts, and Evidence. He helped to start the undergraduate legal studies program and has taught Introduction to American Law, Criminal Law, and Animals: Ethics and Law to undergraduates.