Robert L. Nelson is the Robert and Connie MacCrate Chair in Research on the Legal Profession at the American Bar Foundation and a professor of sociology and law at Northwestern University. A scholar of law and inequality, with a focus on the legal profession, organizations, and discrimination law, he is the author or editor of nine books. Rights on Trial builds on his earlier work on gender inequality in organizations, including Legalizing Gender Inequality: Courts, Markets, and Unequal Pay for Women in America (with William Bridges), which won the best book prize from the American Sociological Association.