Research
Exploring where law, society and culture meet.
For over 70 years, we’ve conducted rigorous, groundbreaking research used worldwide to help ensure that the law embodies principles like dignity, fairness and justice.
Learning and Practicing Law
Advancing research on legal education and practice, the ABF investigates how the law is practiced both in legal and non-legal settings, including a focus on legal careers and the evolving paths of legal professionals.
Protecting Rights and Accessing Justice
Innovative research through the ABF examines the roles that laws have around the world, with a special focus on protecting vital rights and the ways that people from different communities can access the justice system.
Making and Implementing Law
The ABF analyzes the diverse ways laws are created and practiced in the U.S. and around the world, not just by legal professionals, but also by those who enforce the law and put it into action.
Recent Research Publications
Displaying 12 Results Out of 279
- Reports
After the JD: First Results of a National Study of Legal Careers
2004
Ronit Dinovitzer, Bryant Garth, Joyce Sterling, Gita Z. Wilder and Richard Sander
- Articles
If it Ain't Broke... An Empirical Perspective on Ethics 2000, Screening, and the Conflict-of-Interest Rules
November 2003
Susan P. Shapiro
- Articles
Lawyers for Conservative Causes: Clients, Ideology, and Social Distance
March 2003
John P. Heinz and Anthony Paik
- Books
Tangled Loyalties: Conflict of Interest in Legal Practice
July 2002
Susan P. Shapiro
- Articles
The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime
May 2001
John Donohue III and Steven D. Levitt
- Articles
The Scale of Justice: Observations on the Transformation of Urban Law Practice
August 2001
John P. Heinz, Robert L. Nelson and Edward O. Laumann
- Chapters
Crime: White-Collar
January 2001
Susan P. Shapiro
- Articles
After Citizens United: How Outside Spending Shapes American Democracy
January 2020
Nour J. Abdul-Razzak, Carlo Prato and Stephane Wolton
- Articles
Everests of the Mundane: Conflict of Interest in Real-World Legal Practice
2000
Susan P. Shapiro
- Chapters
When You Just Can't Say 'No': Controlling Lawyers' Conflicts of Interest
Susan P. Shapiro
- Books
For the Sake of the Children: The Social Organization of Responsibility in the Hospital and the Home
Carol A. Heimer and Lisa R. Staffen
- Books
The Hollow Core: Private Interests in National Policy Making
Robert L. Nelson, John P. Heinz, Robert H. Salisbury and Edward O. Laumann