Richard de Luci was first noted as Sheriff of the County of Essex. When Henry II came to the throne in 1154, he was made Chief Justiciar of England jointly with Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester. When de Beaumont died in 1168, he continued to hold the office in his own right.

He resigned his office in 1179, and retired to Lesnes Abbey in Kent, where he died and was buried three months later.