Ric Sheffield is Professor Emeritus of Legal Studies and Sociology at Kenyon College, where he spent 33 years and served seven years on the College's senior staff as Associate Provost. He was the founding Director of the John Adams Summer Scholars Program in Socio-legal Studies. Prior to his academic career, Sheffield practiced law for ten years as an Assistant Attorney General of Ohio, initially as a civil rights attorney and later as Chief of the Consumer Protection Division.