Sir Richard Field studied at both the University of Bristol and the London School of Economics, and spent several years as a legal academic in Canada and Hong Kong before he was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1977. He practised commercial and competition law from One Essex Court, and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1987. He became a Deputy High Court Judge in 1998 and a Recorder the following year, and was made a Judge of the Queen's Bench Division in 2001. He sat regularly in the Commercial Court throughout his judicial career, and was Judge In Charge of the Court in 2014. He was a Presiding Judge on the Western Circuit from 2009 to 2014. After retiring from the High Court in 2014, he became a Judge of the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts, a Justice of Appeal of the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal, and an international arbitrator.

Sir Richard's interests include cricket, opera, and theatre.