Richard L. Abel

Michael J. Connell Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus
Distinguished Research Professor

Richard Abel teaches Torts, Legal Profession, and Law and Social Change. Over the years, he has been president of the Law and Society Association, editor of African Law Studies and of the Law & Society Review, and member of the editorial boards of other journals in the law and society field in the United States, Europe, and Australia. He participated in the founding of the Conference on Critical Legal Studies in 1977 and helped organize the meeting on “Law and Racism: The Sounds of Silence.” At UCLA, he has been faculty coordinator for the Public Interest Law Program.

Professor Abel spent two years after law school reading African law and legal anthropology in London, and then a year of field work in Kenya studying the ways in which primary courts staffed by and serving the African population had preserved indigenous notions of law and procedure within European institutions. He began teaching at Yale in 1969 and spent the 1971-72 year practicing with the New Haven Legal Assistance Association.

Professor Abel’s books include Lawyers in the Dock: Learning from Attorney Disciplinary Proceedings (2008); English Lawyers between Market and State: The Politics of Professionalism (2003); Speaking Respect, Respecting Speech (1998); Lawyers: A Critical Reader (1997); Politics by Other Means: Law in the Struggle Against Apartheid, 1980-1994 (1995); The Law & Society Reader (1995); Speech and Respect (1994); American Lawyers (1989); The Legal Profession in England and Wales (1988); The Politics of Informal Justice (editor, 1982); and Lawyers in Society (co-editor, 1988-89).

Education

  • B.A. Harvard, 1962
  • LL.B. Columbia, 1965
  • Ph.D. School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1974
  • LL.D. (honoris causa), University of Westminster

Books

  • Lawyers in 21st-Century Societies, vol. 2: Comparisons and Theories (edited by Richard Abel, Ole Hammerslev, Ulrike Schultz & Hilary Sommerlad). Oxford: Hart Publishing (forthcoming 2022).
  • Lawyers in 21st-Century Societies, vol. 1: National Reports (edited by Richard L. Abel and Ole Hammerslev, with Hilary Sommerlad and Ulrike Schultz). Oxford: Hart Publishing (2020).
  • Law’s Trials: The Performance of Legal Institutions in the U.S. “War on Terror”. Cambridge Univ. Press (2018).
  • Law’s Wars: The Fate of the Rule of Law in the U.S. “War on Terror”. Cambridge Univ. Press (2018).
  • Lawyers on Trial: Understanding Ethical Misconduct. Oxford University Press (2010).
  • Lawyers in the Dock: Learning from Attorney Disciplinary Proceedings. Oxford University Press (2008). Paperback, 2011.
  • English Lawyers Between Market and State: The Politics of Professionalism. Oxford University Press (2003). Paperback, 2004.
  • Speaking Respect, Respecting Speech. Univ. of Chicago Press (1998). Paperback, 2000.
  • Seeking Recognition. Johannesburg: Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Univ. of the Witwatersrand (1997). (Monograph 10)
  • Lawyers: A Critical Reader (edited by Richard L. Abel). New Press (1997).
  • Disestablishing Oukasie. Johannesburg: Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Univ. of the Witwatersrand (1997). (Mongraph 9)
  • Moutse and KwaNdebele: Ethnicity and Gender in the Challenge to Grand Apartheid. Johannesburg: Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Univ. of the Witwatersrand (1997). (Monograph 8)
  • The Alexandria Treason Trial. Johannesburg: Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Univ. of the Witwatersrand (1997). (Monograph 7)
  • State Terrorism: The Response of Law and Medicine to Police Torture. Johannesburg: Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Univ. of the Witwatersrand (1997). (Monograph 6)
  • Censorship and the Closure of the New Nation. Johannesburg: Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Univ. of the Witwatersrand (1996). (Monograph 5)
  • White Resistance to the Military. Johannesburg: Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Univ. of the Witwatersrand (1996). (Monograph 4)
  • Bakwena ba Magopa: The Last Forced Removal. Johannesburg: Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Univ. of the Witwatersrand (1996). (Mongraph 3)
  • Mpophomeni and the War in Natal. Johannesburg: Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Univ. of the Witwatersrand (1996). (Monograph 2)
  • Carving Loopholes in the Pass Laws. Johannesburg: Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Univ. of the Witwatersrand (1996). (Monograph 1)
  • The Law & Society Reader (edited by Richard L. Abel). NYU Press (1995).
  • Lawyers in Society: An Overview (edited by Richard L. Abel and Philip S.C. Lewis). University of California Press (1995). Related Publications: Vol. 1: The Common Law World (1988); Vol. 2: The Civil Law World (1988); and Vol. 3: Comparative Theories (1989).
  • Politics by Other Means: Law in the Struggle Against Apartheid, 1980-1994. Routledge (1995).
  • Speech and Respect. Sweet & Maxwell (1994). Also translated into Italian as La Parola e il Rispetto: I Limiti Della Liberta di Espressione (Traduzione di Maria Cristina Reale, Presentazione di Vincenzo Ferrari).  Dott. A. Giuffre (1996).
  • American Lawyers. Oxford University Press (1989).
  • The Legal Profession in England and Wales. Blackwell (1988). Excerpted in Legal Ethics Cases and Materials (edited by Richard O’Dair, Butterworths, 2001).  Reprinted as The Making of the English Legal Profession, 1800-1988, Beard Books (2005).
  • The Politics of Informal Justice, Vol. 2: Comparative Studies (edited by Richard L. Abel). Academic Press (1982).
  • The Politics of Informal Justice, Vol. 1: The American Experience (edited by Richard L. Abel). Academic Press (1982).

Articles & Chapters

  • Comparative Sociology of Lawyers: Legal Professions and the State, in Lawyers in 21st Century Societies, vol. 2: Comparisons and Theories, (edited by Richard L. Abel and Hilary Sommerlad, with Ole Hammerslev and Ulrike Schultz, Oxford: Hart Publishers, forthcoming 2022).
  • Law’s Infamy in the U.S. ‘War on Terror’, in Law’s Infamy, (edited by Austin Sarat, Lawrence Douglas and Martha M. Umphrey, NYU Press, 2021).
  • Making Public Interest Lawyers In A Time Of Crisis: An Evidence-Based Approach (with Catherine Albiston and Scott L. Cummings), 34 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 223 (2021). Full Text
  • Legal pedagogy and its Discontents, 16 International Journal of Law in Context 77 (2020).
  • Law’s Wars, Law’s Trials, 47 (S1) Journal of Law and Society S14 (2020).
  • Comparative Sociology of Lawyers, 1988–2018: The Professional Project, in Lawyers in 21st Century Societies, vol. 1: National Reports, (edited by Richard L. Abel and Ole Hammerslev, with Hilary Sommerlad and Ulrike Schultz, Oxford: Hart Publishers, 2020).
  • Defending the Rule of Law, 11 Hague Journal on the Rule of Law 389 (2019).
  • What Else Is Sociology of Law? Reflection on John Griffiths’s What is Sociology of Law?, 49 Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 373 (2017).
  • Lawyer Self-Regulation and the Public Interest: A Reflection, 20 Legal Ethics 115 (2017).
  • ‘You Never Want a Serious Crisis to Go to Waste’: Reflections on the Reform of Legal Education in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, 22 International Journal of the Legal Profession 3-25 (2015).
  • An Agenda for Research on the Legal Profession and Legal Education: One American’s Perspective, in The Futures of Legal Education and the Legal Profession, 201-20 (edited by Hilary Sommerlad, Sonia Harris-Short, Steven Vaughan and Richard Young, Hart Publishing, 2015).
  • How Marc Galanter Became Marc Galantar, 62 DePaul Law Review 555 (2013). Full Text
  • What Does and Should Influence the Number of Lawyers?, 19 International Journal of the Legal Profession 131 (2012). Republished in Too Many Lawyers? The Future of the Legal Profession (edited by Eyal Katvan, Carole Silver, Neta Ziv and Avrom Sherr, Routledge, 2017).
  • Law Under Stress: The Struggle Against Apartheid in South Africa, 1980-94 and the Defense of Legality in the United States after 9/11, 26 South African Journal on Human Rights 217-45 (2011).
  • Just Law?, in The Paradox of Professionalism: Lawyers and the Possibility of Justice, 296-317 (edited by Scott Cummings, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011).
  • The Paradoxes of Pro Bono, 78 Fordham Law Review 2443-50 (2010). Full Text
  • Law and Society: Project and Practice, 6 Annual Review of Law & Sociel Science 1 (2010).
  • Law School, 16 International Journal of the Legal Profession 49-58 (2009).
  • Professional Integrity, Chapter 17, in Law and Anthropology, 430-64 (edited by Michael Freeman, Oxford University Press, 2009). Current Legal Issues, Vol. 12.
  • State, Market, Philanthropy and Self-Help as Legal Services Delivery Mechanisms, in Private Lawyers in the Public Interest: The Evolving Role of Pro Bono in the Legal Profession, 295-307 (edited by Robert Granfield and Lynn Mather, Oxford University Press, 2009).
  • Author’s Response, 11 Legal Ethics 126-28 (2008).
  • The Globalization of Public Interest Law, 13 UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs 295-305 (2008).
  • Forecasting Civil Litigation, 58 DePaul Law Review 425-49 (2008).
  • Legal Profession, in Oxford Handbook of Law and Politics, (edited by Keith E. Whittington, R. Daniel Kelemen, and Gregory A Caldeira, Oxford University Press, 2008).
  • Legal Profession, International Comparisons and Trends, in The New Oxford Companion to Law, (edited by Peter Cane and Joanne Conaghan, Oxford University Press, 2008).
  • Common Lawyers between Market and State, in Professions under Pressure: Lawyers and Doctors between Profit and Public Interest, 63-78 (edited by Nicolle Zeegers and Herman Bröring, Boom Publishers, 2008).
  • Contesting Legality in the United States After September 11, in Fighting for Political Freedom: Comparative Studies of the Legal Complex and Political Liberalism, (edited by Terence Halliday, Lucien Karpik, and Malcolm Feeley, Hart Publishing, 2008).
  • How the Plaintiffs Bar Bars Plaintiffs, 51 New York Law School Law Review 345 (2007).
  • Practicing Immigration Law in Filene’s Basement, North Carolina Law Review 1449-1500 (2006).
  • General Damages are Incoherent, Incalculable, Incommensurable, and Inegalitarian (But Otherwise a Great Idea), 55 DePaul Law Review 253-329 (2006).
  • Civil Rights and Wrongs, 38 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 1421-34 (2005). Reprinted in Liber Amicorum John Griffiths (2006).
  • The Professional as Political: English Lawyers from the 1989 Green Papers Through the Access to Justice Act 1999, in Reorganization and Resistance: Legal Professions Confront a Changing World, (Hart Publishing, 2005).
  • Lott’s Life: Don’t Look Back, The Politics of Respect, 5 Rutgers Race and the Law Review 269-92 (2003).
  • Lawyers and Legal Services, in Oxford Handbook of Legal Studies, 796-816 (edited by Peter Cane and Mark Tushnet, Oxford University Press, 2003).
  • Judges Write the Darndest Things: Judicial Mystification of Limitations on Tort Liability, 80 Texas Law Review 1547-75 (2002).
  • Choosing, Nurturing, Training and Placing Public Interest Law Students, 70 Fordham Law Review 1463-71 (2002).
  • The Promise and Peril of International Order, in Transnational Legal Processes, 213-17 (edited by Michael Likosky, Butterworth’s Publishers, 2002).
  • Lawyers, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 8553-59 (edited by N.J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes, Pergamon Press, 2001).
  • Fighting Words, 1 Margins 199-304 (2001).
  • An American Hamburger Stand in St. Paul’s Cathedral: Replacing Legal Aid with Conditional Fees in English Personal Injury Litigation, 51 DePaul Law Review 253-313 (2001).
  • The Politics of Professionalism: The Transformation of English Lawyers at the End of the Twentieth Century, 2 Legal Ethics 131-47 (1999).
  • Questioning the Counter-Majoritarian Thesis: The Case of Torts, 49 DePaul Law Review 533-58 (1999).
  • Legality Without a Constitution: South Africa in the 1980s, in Recrafting the Rule of Law, (edited by David Dyzenhaus, Hart Publications, 1999).
  • Ten Years On: Changes in the Regulatory Framework, Law Society and Policy Planning Unit, in Governing the Profession: Proceedings from the Annual Research Conference 1998 on Regulation, 8-10 (Law Society, 1998).
  • Speaking Respect, Respecting Speech, 50 Sociology of Law 214 (1998). (Translated into Japanese by Ryo Fujimoto)
  • Big Lies and Small Steps: A Critique of Deborah Rhode’s Too Much Law, Too Little Justice: Too Much Rhetoric, Too Little Reform, 11 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 1019-27 (1998).
  • Speaking Law to Power: Occasions for Cause Lawyering, in Cause Lawyering: Political Commitments and Professional Responsibilities, (edited by Austin Sarat and Stuart Scheingold, Oxford University Press, 1998).
  • Torts, in The Politics of Law, 3rd ed. (edited by David Kairys, Basic Books, 1998).
  • Parole in Lotta [Fighting Words], 28 Sociologia del Diritto 5 (1996).
  • Public Discontent: The Debate Goes Beyond Tort Law; It’s About Lawyers (with Stephen Daniels, et al.), 81 American Bar Association Journal 70-75 (1995).
  • Contested Communities, 22 Journal of Law and Society 113-26 (1995).
  • Nothing Left but Rights: Law in the Struggle Against Apartheid, in Identities, Politics and Rights, (edited by Austin Sarat and Thomas R. Kearns, University of Michigan Press, 1995).
  • Revisioning Lawyers, in Lawyers in Society: An Overview, (edited by Richard L. Abel and Philip S.C. Lewis, University of California Press, 1995).
  • What We Talk About When We Talk About Law, in The Law & Society Reader, (edited by Richard L. Abel, NYU Press, 1995).
  • ABA Journal Roundtable: Identity Crisis, 80 American Bar Association Journal 74 (1994).
  • A Critique of Torts, 2 Tort Law Review 99 (1994). An abbreviated version of “Torts.”
  • Public Freedom, Private Restraint, 21 Journal of Law and Society 374-82 (1994).
  • Transnational Law Practice, 44 Case Western Reserve Law Review 737-870 (1994).
  • The Costs of War, 7 Negotiation Journal 235 (1991).
  • The Failure of Punishment as Social Control, 25 Israel Law Review 740 (1991).
  • Capitalism and the Rule of Law: Precondition or Contradiction?, 15 Law & Social Inquiry 685-97 (1990).
  • The Contradictions of Legal Professionalism, in New Directions in the Study of Justice, Law and Social Control, 17-42 (Plenum Press, 1990).
  • Evaluating Evaluations: How Should Law Schools Judge Teaching?, 40 Journal of Legal Education 407-65 (1990).
  • Taking Professionalism Seriously, Annual Survey of American Law 41-63, 83-84 (1990).
  • Torts, in The Politics of Law: A Progressive Critique, 326-49 2nd ed. (edited by David Kairys, Pantheon, 1990). 1st ed. 1982. A complete rewriting of the 1982 chapter.  An expanded version, entitled “A Critique of Torts,” appeared in 37 UCLA Law Review 785-831 (1990).
  • Between Market and State: The Legal Profession in Turmoil, 52 Modern Law Review 285-325 (1989).
  • Comparative Sociology of Legal Professions, in Lawyers in Society, Vol. 3: Comparative Theories, 80-153 (edited by Richard L. Abel and Philip S.C. Lewis, University of California Press, 1989). An earlier version appeared in 1985 American Bar Foundation Research Journal.
  • Putting Law Back into the Sociology of Lawyers (with Philip S.C. Lewis), in Lawyers in Society, Vol. 3: Comparative Theories, 478-526 (edited by Richard L. Abel and Philip S.C. Lewis, University of California Press, 1989).
  • The Crisis is Injuries, Not Liability, in New Directions in Liability Law, 31-41 (edited by Walter K. Olson, Academy of Political Science in conjunction with the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, 1988). Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, Vol. 37, No. 1.
  • Critique 2: Critical Legal Studies, in Dictionnaire Encyclopedique de Theorie et de Sociologie du Droit, 86-88 (edited by Andre-Jean Arnaud et al., Librarie General de Droit et de Jurisprudence, 1988).
  • Lawyers in the Civil Law World, in Lawyers in Society, Vol. 2: The Civil Law World, (edited by Richard L. Abel and Philip S.C. Lewis, University of California Press, 1988).
  • De rechtswinkel en sociale verandering: Een organisatorisch perspektief, 14 Recht en Kritiek 237-46 (1988). [The Law Shops and Social Change: An Organizational Perspective]
  • United States: The Contradictions of Professionalism, in Lawyers in Society, Vol. 1: The Common Law World, (edited by Richard L. Abel and Philip S.C. Lewis, University of California Press, 1988).
  • The Real Tort Crisis: Too Few Claims, 48 Ohio State Law Journal 443-67 (1987). Symposium: Issues in Tort Reform.
  • The Transformation of Civil Lawyers, 1987 Brigham Young University Law Review 7-94 (1987). Symposium: Comparative Law in the Late Twentieth Century.
  • England and Wales: A Comparison of the Professional Projects of Barristers and Solicitors, 49 Modern Law Review (1986). Also published in Lawyers in Society, Vol. 1: The Common Law World 23-75 (edited by Richard L. Abel and Philip S.C. Lewis, University of California Press, 1988).
  • The Decline of Professionalism?, 49 Modern Law Review 1-41 (1986).
  • The Transformation of the American Legal Profession, 20 Law & Society Review 7-17 (1986). Reprinted in Courts in American Politics (edited by Henry P. Glick, McGraw-Hill, 1990).
  • Lawyers, in Law and the Social Sciences, 369-444 (edited by Leon Lipson and Stanton Wheeler, Russell Sage Foundation, 1986).
  • The Paradoxes of Legal Aid, in Public Interest Law, 379-93 (edited by Jeremy Cooper and Rajeev Dhavan, Blackwell, 1986). A revised excerpt from Law Without Politics.
  • What is the Assistance of Counsel Effective For?, 14 NYU Review of Law & Social Change 165-71 (1986).
  • Comparative Sociology of Legal Professions: An Exploratory Essay, 1985 American Bar Foundation Research Journal 1-79 (1985).
  • Informalism: A Tactical Equivalent to Law?, 19 Clearinghouse Review 375-83 (1985). Special Issue: Poor Clients Without Lawyers.
  • Law Without Politics: Legal Aid Under Advanced Capitalism, 32 UCLA Law Review 474-642 (1985). Excerpted in Legal Action 9-11 (May 1986), 10, 12 (Oct. 1986). Bulletin of the English Legal Action Group.
  • Les avocats, l’aide judiciaire, et la reproduction du droit, 23 Annales de Vaucresson 157-74 (1985). A revised excerpt from Law without Politics.
  • Review Essay: Blaming Victims, 1985 American Bar Foundation Research Journal 401-17 (1985). Reviewing Risk and Culture: An Essay on the Selection of Technological and Environmental Dangers, by Mary Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky.
  • Should Tort Law Protect Property Against Accidental Loss?, in The Law of Tort: Policies and Trends in Liability for Damage to Property and Economic Loss, 155-90 (edited by Michael Furmston, Ducksworths, 1985).
  • Custom, Rules, Administration, Community (Special Number: The Construction and Transformation of African Customary Law), 28 Journal of African Law 6-19 (1984). A Portuguese translation can be found in Direito Custumeiro Africano em Situacoes de Mundanca, edited by Alvaro Lucio.
  • Sociology of Law in the Dutch-Speaking Countries, 11 Sociologia del Diritto 123-35 (1984). Reprinted in Sociology of Law and Legal Anthropology in Dutch Speaking Countries 5-19 (edited by Jean Van Houtte, Martinus Nijhoff, 1985).
  • Mediation in Pre-Capitalist Societies, 3 Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 175-85 (1983).
  • The Contradictions of Informal Justice, in The Politics of Informal Justice, Vol. 1: The American Experience, 267-320 (edited by Richard L. Abel, Academic Press, 1982). Excerpted in An Introduction to Advocacy (ABA Section of Litigation, Chicago: ABA, 1987).
  • Family and State, in The Impact of Sociology of Law on Government Action , 247-64 (edited by Alessandro Baratta, Lang, 1982). Proceedings of a Conference on Sociology of Law, Saarbrücken, Federal Republic of Germany, Sept. 5-8, 1977.
  • Introduction, in The Politics of Informal Justice, Vol. 1: The American Experience , 1-13 (edited by Richard L. Abel, Academic Press, 1982). Excerpted in Dispute Resolution and Lawyers (edited by Leonard Riskin and James Westbrook, West Publishing, 1987).
  • Introduction, in The Politics of Informal Justice, Vol. 2: Comparative Studies, 1-13 (edited by Richard L. Abel, Academic Press, 1982).
  • The Politics of the Market for Legal Services, in Law in the Balance: Legal Services in the 1980’s, 6-59 (edited by Philip A. Thomas, Roberston, 1982). An abridged version of Toward a Political Economy of Lawyers.  Excerpted in Lawyers (2nd ed., edited by Julian Disney et al., Law Book Company, 1986).
  • A Socialist Approach to Risk, 41 Maryland Law Review 695-754 (1982).
  • The Underdevelopment of Legal Professions: A Review Article on Third World Lawyers, 1982 American Bar Foundation Research Journal 871-93 (1982).
  • A Critique of American Tort Law, 8 British Journal of Law and Society 199-231 (1981). Translated into Korean and published in Essays on the Law of Torts (edited by Kim Sung Tae, Private Law Association, 1985). Reprinted in Critical Legal Studies (edited by Allan Hutchinson, Rowman & Littlefield, 1989).
  • Conservative Conflict and the Reproduction of Capitalism: The Role of Informal Justice, 9 International Journal of the Sociology of Law 245-67 (1981).
  • The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming… (with William L.F. Felstiner and Austin Sarat), 15 Law & Society Review 631-54 (1981).
  • Law in Context, the Sociology of Legal Institutions, Litigation in Society: Phases in the Conception of Research Questions about the Legal System of Kenya, in Law and Social Enquiry: Case Histories of Research, 34-75 (edited by Robin Luckham, Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1981).
  • Legal Services, in Handbook of Applied Sociology: Frontiers of Contemporary Research, (edited by Marvin E. Olsen and Michael Micklin, Praeger, 1981). Excerpted in The Legal Profession: Responsibility and Regulation (edited by Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr. and Deborah Rhode, Foundation Press, 1985).
  • Règlement Formel et Informel des Conflits: Analyse d’une Alternative, 1/81 Sociologie du Travail 32-43 (1981).
  • Toward a Political Economy of Lawyers, 1981 Wisconsin Law Review 1117-87 (1981).
  • Why Does the ABA Promote Ethical Rules?, 59 Texas Law Review 639-88 (1981). Excerpted in Materials for a Basic Course in Civil Procedure (edited by Henry P. Glick, Foundation Press, 1990).
  • Delegalization: A Critical Review of Its Ideology, Manifestations and Social Consequences, in Alternative Rechtsformen und Alternativen zum Recht, 27-47 (edited by Erhard Blankenburg, 1980). Excerpted in The Legal Profession: Responsibility and Regulation (edited by Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr. and Deborah Rhode, Foundation Press, 1985).  Reprinted in Introduction to Legal Studies (4th ed., edited by Wesley Pue, Captus Press, 1988).
  • Redirecting Social Studies of Law, 14 Law & Society Review 805-29 (1980).
  • The Sociology of American Lawyers: A Bibliographic Guide, 2 Law & Policy Quarterly 335-91 (1980).
  • Taking Stock, 14 Law & Society Review 429-43 (1980).
  • Theories of Litigation in Society: “Modern” Dispute Institutions in “Tribal” Society and “Tribal” Dispute Institutions in “Modern” Society as Alternative Legal Forms, in Alternative Rechtsformen und Alternativen zum Recht, 165-91 (edited by Erhard Blankenburg et al., West-deutscher Verlag, 1980).
  • Review Essay: The Rise of Capitalism and the Transformation of Disputing: From Confrontation over Honor to Competition for Property, UCLA Law Review 223-55 (1979). Reviewing Dispute and Settlement in Rural Turkey: An Ethnography of Law, by June Starr. Reprinted in Law and Social Transformation in Aegean Turkey 1-31 (by June Starr, Skinnycats, 1979).
  • Socializing the Legal Profession: Can Redistributing Lawyers’ Services Achieve Social Justice?, 1 Law & Policy 5-51 (1979).
  • Western Courts in Non-Western Settings: Patterns of Court Use in Colonial and New-Colonial Africa, in The Imposition of Law, 167-200 (edited by Barbara E. Harrell-Bond and Sandra B. Burman, Academic Press, 1979).
  • Comparative Law and Social Theory, 26 American Journal of Comparative Law 219-26 (1978).
  • Law Books and Books About Law, 26 Stanford Law Review (1973). Expanded version in Law and the Behavioral Sciences, 21-6 (2nd ed., edited by Lawrence M. Freidman and Stewart Macaulay, Bobbs-Merrill, 1977).
  • A Comparative Theory of Dispute Institutions in Society, 8 Law & Society Review 217-347 (1983).
  • A Bibliography of the Customary Laws of Kenya (with Special Reference to the Laws of Wrongs), 2 African Law Studies 1-48 (1969). Expanded version in 6 East African Law Journal 78-130 (1970).
  • Case Method Research in the Customary Laws of Wrongs in Kenya – Part I: Individual Case Analysis, 5 East African Law Journal 247-290 (1969). Part II: Statistical Analysis, 6 East African Law Journal 20-60 (1970).  An abridged version of this article was published as “Customary Laws of Wrongs in Kenya: An Essay in Research Method,” 17 American Journal of Comparative Law 573-626 (1969).  Reprinted in An Introduction to the Legal System in East Africa (edited by William Burnett Harvey, East African Publishing, 1975).

Book Reviews

  • Crunched by the Numbers, 66 Journal of Legal Education 961 (2017). Review of Engines of Anxiety: Academic Rankings, Reputation and Accountability, by Wendy Nelson Espeland and Michael Sauder.
  • Book Review, 57 Journal of Legal Education 130-42 (2007). Reviewing Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture, by Marc Galanter.
  • Varieties of Social Discipline: Collective Action in a Law Firm, 31 Journal of Law & Society 610-24 (2004). Review of The Collegial Phenomenon: The Social Mechanisms of Cooperation Among Peers in a Corporate Law Partnership, by Emmanual Lazega.
  • Book Review, Lawyers for Liberalism: Axiom, Oxymoron, or Accident?, 1 Books-On-Law 9 (Nov. 1998). Reviewing Lawyers and the Rise of Western Political Liberalism, edited by Terence C. Halliday and Lucien Karpik.
  • Review Essay: £’s of Cure, Ounces of Prevention, 73 California Law Review 1003-25 (1985). Reviewing Compensation and Support for Illness and Injury, by Donald R. Harris et al.
  • Review Essay: Risk As an Arena of Struggle, 83 Michigan Law Review 772-812 (1985). Reviewing Going by the Book: The Problems of Regulatory Unreasonableness, by Eugene Bardach and Robert A. Kagan; The Other Price of Britain’s Oil: Safety and Control in the North Sea, by W. G. Carson; and Workers at Risk: Voices from the Workplace, by Dorothy Nelkin and Michael S. Brown.
  • Book Review, Comparative Law, 31 American Journal of Comparative Law 130-37 (1983). Reviewing Rules and Processes: The Cultural Logic of Dispute in an African Context, by John L. Comaroff and Simon Roberts.
  • Review Essay, 10 International Journal of the Sociology of Law 105-12 (1982). Reviewing Law, Society and Political Action: Towards a Strategy under Late Capitalism, by Thomas Mathiesen.
  • Review Essay: Law as Lag: Inertia as a Social Theory of Law, 80 Michigan Law Review 785-809 (1982). Reviewing Society and Legal Change, by Alan Watson.
  • Book Review, 10 International Journal of the Sociology of Law 441-46 (1982). Reviewing Sociological Approaches to Law, edited by Adam Podgorecki and Christopher Whelan.
  • Book Review, 3 Health Activists’ Digest 28-29 (1981). Reviewing Stop Environmental Cancer: An Epidemic of the Petrochemical Age, by Paul Blanc.
  • Book Review, 8 Sociologia del Diritto 196 (1981). Reviewing Three Annual Meetings of the Law and Society Association. Also published in 1 Zeitschrift fur Rechtssoziologie (1981).
  • Book Review, Law and Anthropology, 28 American Journal of Comparative Law 128-35 (1980).  Reviewing Social Anthropology and the Law, edited by Ian Hamnett.
  • Review Essay: The Rise of Professionalism, 6 British Journal of Law and Society 82-98 (1979). Reviewing The Rise of Professionalism: A Sociological Analysis, by Magali Sarfatti Larson.
  • Book Review, 64 Sociology and Social Research 145-47 (1979). Reviewing Understanding Lawyers: Perspectives on the Legal Profession in Australia, edited by Roman Tomasic.
  • Review Essay: The Problem of Values in the Analysis of Political Order: Myths of Tribal Society and Liberal Democracy, 16 African Law Studies 132-65 (1978). Reviewing Tradition and Contract: The Problem of Order, by Elizabeth Colson.
  • Book Reviews, Briefly Noted, 13 African Law Studies 176-87 (1976). Reviewing Ife Essays in Administration, edited by Colin Baker and M.J. Balogun; An Introduction to African Criminology, by W. Clifford; Developing Research on African Administration: Some Methodological Issues, edited by Adebayo Adedeji and Goran Hyden; An Introduction to the Sources of Contemporary African Laws–Independent Sub-Saharan African, by Jacques Vanderlinden; The Spontaneous Settlement Problem in Kenya, by Philip M. Mbithi and Carolyn Barnes; Civil Practice and Procedure in All Bantu Courts in Southern Africa, by J.A.M. Khumalo; African Law and Custom in Rhodesia, by Bennie Goldin and Michael Gelfand; and Forgotten Mandate: A British District Officer in Tanganyika, by E.K. Lumley.
  • Book Review, 8 African Law Studies 97-106 (1973). Reviewing One Nation, One Judiciary: The Lower Courts of Zambia, by Francis O. Spalding et al.
  • Book Review, Comptes Rendus, 17 Journal of African Law 124-28 (1973). Reviewing East African Cases on the Law of Tort, by E. Veitch.
  • Book Review, 7 East African Law Journal 180-83 (1971). Reviewing Public Law and Political Change in Kenya: A Study of the Legal Framework of Government from Colonial Times to the Present, by Yash P. Ghai and J.P.W.B. McAuslan.

Edited Journals

  • 15 (2) Legal Ethics (2012). Special Journal.
  • 20 (1) Law & Society Review (1986). Symposium Issue edited by Richard L. Abel.
  • Lawyers and the Power to Change (edited by Richard L. Abel). 7 Law & Policy 1-167 (1985). Special Issue.
  • Law & Society Review (edited by Richard L. Abel). Special Issue: Contemporary Issues In Law and Science, Volume 14, No. 3 (1980).
  • Law & Society Review (edited by Richard L. Abel). Special Issue:  Delivery of Legal Services, Vol. 11, No. 2 (1979).
  • Law & Society Review (edited by Richard L. Abel). Special Double Issue on Plea Bargaining, Volume 13, No. 1 & 2 (1979).
  • Law & Society Review (edited by Richard L. Abel). Volumes 11 (No. 1, 3, 4, 5) and 12 (No. 1-4) (1976-78). 
  • African Law Studies (edited by Richard L. Abel). Numbers 12-16 (1975-78).

Other

  • A Response: How to Defend the Rule of Law, 12 Hague Journal on the Rule of Law 223 (2020). (Response to six reviews of “Law’s Wars” and “Law’s Trials”)
  • Law’s Wars, Law’s Trials: The Fate of the Rule of Law in the U.S. “War on Terror”, 36(1) Law in Context (July 2019).
  • In Memoriam: John Griffiths, 49 Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 1 (2017). Full Text
  • In memoriam‒Simon Roberts (1941-2014), 46 Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 287 (2014).
  • Yes, There’s a Glut of Lawyers… but Only for the Wealthy, Los Angeles Times at B7 (Dec. 26, 1989).
  • Contradictions in the Green Papers, 86 Law Society’s Gazette 14-18 (Mar. 22, 1989).
  • Liability-Insurance “Crisis”: Victims Need the Protection, Los Angeles Times at 9, col. 1 (May 23, 1989).
  • From the Editor, 12 Law & Society Review. 189-98, 333-40, 489-97 (1978).
  • From the editor, 11 Law & Society Review (1977). 3-5, 419-23, 611-15, 747-55 (1977).
  • From the Editor-Elect, 10 Law & Society Review 489-94 (1976).