[6] Abrams built a reputation as an activist and consumer advocate, taking on environmental polluters, charity frauds, discrimination in housing and various activities in the marketplace.

He is also well-known for the manner in which he sensitively and professionally handled an extremely difficult assignment, that of Special Prosecutor investigating the claims of Tawana Brawley.

[7] Governor Mario Cuomo directed him in 1988 to investigate the claims of Brawley, a black teenager, that she had been abducted and raped in upstate Dutchess County by a gang of whites.

[8] During his tenure as attorney general, Abrams received numerous awards and honors and earned national prominence rarely achieved by a state-level official.

[16] During the ensuing 25 years, United States senators, governors, attorneys general and judges have appeared as guests, including United States Senators Joe Lieberman from Connecticut, Heidi Heitkamp from North Dakota, Tom Udall from New Mexico, Vermont Chief Justice Jeffrey Amestoy, Governors Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Mike Easley of North Carolina, Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, and attorneys general Karl Racine of Washington, D.C., Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Letitia James of New York.

[23] In 2010, New York's chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, appointed him to be a member of the Advisory Council for the Retired Attorney Pro Bono Program.

[24] In 2012, Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed Abrams as co-chairman of a Moreland Commission to investigate the preparedness and response of the utilities in New York State to Superstorm Sandy which took the lives of numerous New Yorkers and caused billions of dollars of damage.

At the conclusion of its hearings and deliberations, the Commission released a report which resulted in changes to New York State law and practices by utilities.

In 1991, Abrams delivered the Raoul Wallenberg Lecture in Moscow before several hundred leaders of Jewish communities from each of the fifteen republics of the USSR.

[29] James became the first woman and the first African American to be elected to the position of New York State Attorney General and appointed Abrams as co-chair of her transition team.

Abrams was presented with the Thomas L. Kane award by the J. Reuben Clark Law Society of the LDS Church on June 9, 2022, in Salt Lake City, in recognition of his leadership efforts.