This article examines the marginalized yet politically potent fringe of the legal profession—lawyers who neither represent commercial interests nor serve as state functionaries, but who dedicate their practice to advancing the interests of the poor and disenfranchised.
Abel
Abel (2023), How Autocrats Attack Expertise: Resistance to Trump and Trumpism
This book explores Trump’s attacks on expertise and truth, highlighting the resistance from professionals defending integrity against his autocratic tactics.
Abel (2023), How Autocrats Abuse Power: Resistance to Trump and Trumpism
This book examines Trump’s autocratic tactics and the resistance from various sectors that defended liberal democracy.
Abel (2024), How Autocrats Seek Power: Resistance to Trump and Trumpism
This book examines Trump’s attempts to subvert democracy and the various forms of resistance that defended liberal democracy against the threat of autocracy.
Abel (2025), How Autocrats Subvert Elections: Resistance to Trump and Trumpism
This book examines the January 6 insurrection and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, focusing on legal, political, and civic resistance to Trump’s autocratic actions.
Abel (2025), How Autocrats Are Held Accountable: Resistance to Trump and Trumpism
This book documents the legal and political battles against Trump and his supporters’ autocratic actions, analyzing lawsuits, prosecutions, and broader resistance efforts in defense of American democracy.
Sommerlad, Abel, and Hammerslev (2022), Lawyers in 21st-Century Societies: Vol. 2: Comparisons and Theories
Since 1988, global shifts—driven by neoliberalism, globalization, technological change, and the fall of the Soviet bloc—have transformed the legal profession, prompting a comparative analysis of its structure, roles, and challenges across issues like diversity, ethics, access to justice, and legal education.