Posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2026 at 4:47 pm
Peer recognition carries real weight in the legal world. Other lawyers know who prepares, who tries cases in front of a jury, and who walks away with results for clients. That is what makes this year’s news meaningful. Best Lawyers has named T. Luke Abel the 2027 Lawyer of the Year for Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs in Oklahoma City. Only one lawyer holds that title in each practice area in each city. The honor comes straight from the lawyers who face him across the courtroom and send him their own clients’ cases.
The Announcement
Luke Abel leads Abel Law Firm, the personal injury practice his father, Ed Abel, founded in 1976. He joined in 2006 after finishing law school at the University of Oklahoma, and he has spent every year since representing people hurt by someone else’s negligence. His docket covers car and truck wrecks, oil field injuries, dangerous products, nursing home neglect, and wrongful death claims.
Here are the facts behind the announcement:
- The award: 2027 Lawyer of the Year, Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
- Earlier honors: Lawyer of the Year for Plaintiff’s Product Liability Litigation in 2023 and 2025
- Listing history: Included in The Best Lawyers in America every year since 2020You can view his full recognition history on his Best Lawyers profile.
See his full recognition history on his Best Lawyers profile. Three Lawyer of the Year titles in five years say more than any single award could.
Why This Honor Carries Weight
Best Lawyers builds its lists through peer review. Attorneys in the same city and practice area grade one another on the quality of their work. Nobody buys a spot, and nobody nominates himself. The people voting include the defense lawyers who have faced him in depositions and at trial.
Inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America already puts an attorney in a small group. Lawyer of the Year goes to the single attorney in each practice area in each market with the strongest peer scores. For an injured reader, that matters in a practical way: when an insurance company hires a defense firm to fight your claim, those lawyers already know who they are dealing with.
Recent Case Results
Best Lawyers does not score verdicts or settlements. The recognition measures professional standing among peers. Still, the cases below give you a look at the kind of work Luke Abel takes on.
In Beason v. I.E. Miller Services, Luke Abel represented a worker who suffered a catastrophic oil field injury. The jury returned a $15 million verdict, the largest oil field injury award in Oklahoma history. State law capped noneconomic damages at the time, so the firm carried the issue to the Oklahoma Supreme Court and won. In 2019, the court struck down the cap and reinstated the full judgment, restoring the right of every Oklahoma jury to decide what a person’s loss is truly worth.
- More than $550 million recovered for clients
- More than 150 years of combined trial experience across the firm
- A $5.2 million wrongful death verdict in McCurtain County
- Offices in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, handling cases statewide
Kelly Bishop and Matt Wade bring the same courtroom experience to their own cases, and the whole team still works to the standard Ed Abel set.
Talk With Abel Law Firm Today
If a wreck, a defective product, an oil field accident, or a nursing home injury has turned your life upside down, put this trial experience to work for you.
Call Abel Law Firm at (405) 239-7046 or fill out our online contact form to schedule your free consultation. You pay nothing unless we win. Reach our Oklahoma City office or our Tulsa office, and we will review what happened and tell you honestly where you stand.
