Rick is the Michael J. Connell Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor at the UCLA School of Law, where he has taught since 1974. A towering figure in socio-legal studies and the comparative sociology of the legal profession, he earned his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, an LL.B. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from the University of London as a Marshall Scholar. Early in his academic trajectory, his fieldwork in Kenya examined how primary courts preserved indigenous legal procedures within colonial frameworks. He subsequently helped co-found the Conference on Critical Legal Studies in 1977 and served as president of the Law and Society Association (LSA) while editing the Law & Society Review.
His scholarship fundamentally reshaped how legal professions and institutions are analyzed globally. His multi-volume works, including Lawyers in Society and American Lawyers, established the definitive comparative architecture for understanding how market forces, state regulation, and social inequality influence the practice of law. Furthermore, his volume Politics by Other Means: Law in the Struggle Against Apartheid, 1980–1994 documented the complex operational dynamics of legal systems during severe political crisis. In recognition of his enduring influence, Abel was awarded the LSA’s Harry Kalven Jr. Prize and the inaugural LSA Legacy Award. He has continued his prolific socio-legal output through his recent multi-volume series Defending American Democracy, which analyzes institutional resilience and the rule of law against contemporary authoritarian threats.