William Sheppard

William Sheppard (died 1674) was an English barrister, known as a legal writer.

Life Sheppard was baptised at Whitminster, Gloucestershire, at the end of 1595, and entered the Middle Temple in 1620; he was called to the bar in 1629.

About 1653 Sheppard was invited to London by Cromwell, and made one of the clerks of the upper bench. In 1656 he became a serjeant-at-law, and was nominated with three others to prepare the charters granted to town corporations. Of the Foure Last and Greatest Things (1658) was a collaboration with Thomas Barlow. The People's Privilege and Duty guarded against the Pulpit, London, 1652. Sheppard has been identified as a follower of John Owen; and this expression of the Independent line on preaching may have recommended him to Cromwell.

A Collection of Choice Declarations (1653), attributed to Sheppard in the first edition of the Dictionary of National Biography, was by William Small.