After teaching at Northwestern for just two years, in 1895 Abbot was asked to form a Department of Law at Stanford University by its then President, David Starr Jordan. Upon his arrival, Stanford was suffering widespread financial cuts and layoffs as a result of a dispute over the finances of Leland Stanford's estate as well as the economic fallout from the Panic of 1893. Abbot was forced to perform a wide array of unusual duties to begin work on his new law school, including building furniture for the school himself. The law school grew quickly during its formative years, reaching 100 students by the turn of the millennium. The department was also unique in that it accepted students regardless of race or gender; Abbot accepted students who were Hispanic, Chinese, Japanese, and female.
