Gary Lawrence Francione (born 1954) is an American legal scholar. He is the Distinguished Professor of Law and Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Scholar of Law & Philosophy at Rutgers School of Law-Newark.[1]

Francione is known for his work on animal rights theory, and was the first academic to teach it in an American law school.[2] His work has focused on three issues: (1) the property status of animals, (2) the differences between animal rights and animal welfare, and (3) a theory of animal rights based on sentience alone, rather than on any particular characteristics.