Richard North may refer to :

Richard North Patterson (born February 22, 1947) is an American author of fiction. He was born in Berkeley, California, the eldest child of a corporate executive and a housewife. While still a child, he moved with his parents to Bay Village, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from Bay High School in 1964. He graduated in 1968 from Ohio Wesleyan University. While at Ohio Wesleyan he became a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity. In 1971 he graduated from Case Western Reserve Law School and served as an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Ohio and has been partner in several of the country’s leading law firms. He also served as the liaison for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to the Watergate Special Prosecutor.

Richard did not start writing until he was 29 and already out of law school. He began his first book, The Lasko Tangent, as part of a creative writing course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Once it was completed, he found a publisher, and the novel won the Edgar Allan Poe Award in the category "Best First Mystery Novel (American)" in 1980. He published three more novels before retiring, in 1993, from the practice of law to devote himself to writing. Since then he has written 11 additional novels, with eight consecutive international bestsellers, including No Safe Place, Eyes of a Child, and Dark Lady. He has also won the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière.

Richard D. North, born 1946, is a UK conservative commentator. He worked for The Independent newspaper as its first environment correspondent (1986–1990) and then as environmental columnist for The Sunday Times (1990–1992). His book, Life On a Modern Planet: A manifesto for progress (Manchester University Press, 1995) was widely regarded as a renunciation of his green ideals. He now works with the free-market thinktank, the Institute of Economic Affairs (as media fellow) and with the conservative Social Affairs Unit, where he blogs on art, film and social issues.

The Social Affairs Unit has published North's Rich Is Beautiful: A very personal defence of Mass Affluence (2005),Mr Blair's Messiah Politics: Or what happened when Bambi tried to save the world (2006) and 'Scrap the BBC!': Ten years to set broadcasters free (2007).

Linda Fairstein (born 1947) is an American feminist author and former prosecutor focusing on crimes of violence against women and children. She served as head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's office from 1976 until 2002 and is the author of a series of novels featuring Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper.

Fairstein graduated with honors from Vassar College (1969) and the University of Virginia School of Law (1972). She joined the Manhattan District Attorney's office in 1972 as an Assistant District Attorney. She was promoted to the head of the sex crimes unit in 1976. During her tenure, she prosecuted several controversial and highly publicized cases, including the "Preppy Murder" case against Robert Chambers in 1986 and the "Central Park Jogger" case in 1990 (see below). Fairstein left the District Attorney's office in 2002, and has continued to consult, write, lecture and serve as a sex crimes expert for a wide variety of print and television media outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, and Larry King, among others. Fairstein has consulted for a number of media outlets during a number of high profile prosecutions including Michael Jackson's molestation charges in 2004,Kobe Bryant's sexual assault charges, and Scott Peterson's trial. She was the founder of the Domestic Violence Committee of the New York Women's Agenda. She is a frequent speaker on issues surrounding domestic abuse.