Ronald Sokol

Ronald P. Sokol (born 1939), is a lawyer, writer, and a member of the Bar in the United States and France. He is the author of A Handbook of Federal Habeas Corpus and Justice after Darwin (1975).

Sokol is an op-ed contributor to the International Herald Tribune and The Christian Science Monitor.

Early life and education Ronald Sokol was born in 1939 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He completed his early education at the Whitefish Bay High School. The correspondence between Sokol and Meador continued for 45 years and has been collected at the University of Virginia. In 1963 Sokol obtained an LLM degree finishing a thesis that was published as "The Puzzle of Equality".

In 1965 Sokol drew on his experience to publish A Handbook of Federal Habeas Corpus, the first book on the subject since the 19th century. It was followed by a second edition in 1969.

Career in France In 1966 Sokol resigned from the university and moved to Paris where he began work on Justice after Darwin, published in 1975. It was one of the first works to bring evolutionary theory to bear on legal problems and on justice in particular and displayed an early interdisciplinary approach to the study of law. In 1967 Sokol moved to Tokyo to study Japanese where he met his wife. They communicated in Japanese until coming to France in December, 1968.

In 1970 Sokol and his wife moved to Aix-en-Provence where they have lived since. In 1973 he was admitted to practice in France and set up his own firm. He continues to argue cases throughout France and to counsel individuals, estates, non-profit foundations, and corporations.

In addition to teaching at the University of Virginia, Sokol has lectured at the University of Aix-en-Provence, the Institute of American Universities in Aix-en-Provence, the Ecoles des Mines in Saint-Étienne, the University of Buskerud in Norway and Imperial College, London. He and his wife have four sons who live in London.