Scott Turow
Encyclopedia
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and a practicing lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
. Turow has written eight fiction and two nonfiction books, which have been translated into over 20 language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s and have sold over 25 million copies. Movies have been based on several of his books.
Life and career
Turow was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, attended New Trier High School
New Trier High School
New Trier High School is a public four-year high school , with its major campus located in Winnetka, Illinois, USA, and a second campus in Northfield, Illinois, with freshman classes and district administration...
, and graduated from Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
in 1970. He received an Edith Mirrielees Fellowship to the Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
Creative Writing Center, where he attended from 1970 to 1972. In 1971, he married Annette Weisberg, a painter.
Scott Turow later became a Jones Lecturer at Stanford, serving until 1975, when he entered Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
. In 1977, Turow wrote One L
One L
One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School is an autobiographical narrative by Scott Turow.-Summary:One L tells author Turow's experience as a first-year Harvard Law School student.-Reception:...
, a book about his first year at law school. After earning his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
(J.D.) degree in 1978, Turow became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago, serving in that position until 1986. There he prosecuted several high-profile corruption cases, including the tax fraud case of state Attorney General William Scott. Turow also was lead counsel in Operation Greylord
Operation Greylord
Operation Greylord was an investigation conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division into corruption in the judiciary of Cook County, Illinois...
, the federal prosecution of Illinois judicial corruption cases.
After leaving the U.S. Attorney's office, Turow became a novelist, writing legal thrillers such as The Burden of Proof
The Burden of Proof
The Burden of Proof, published in 1990, is Scott Turow's second novel, somewhat of a sequel to Presumed Innocent. The Burden of Proof follows the story of defense attorney Sandy Stern as he attempts to put his life in order in the midst of seeming dishonesty all around him.The novel begins with...
, Presumed Innocent
Presumed Innocent
Presumed Innocent, published in 1987, is Scott Turow's first novel, which tells the story of a prosecutor charged with the murder of his colleague, an attractive and intelligent prosecutor, Carolyn Polhemus. It is told in the first person by the accused, Rǒzat "Rusty" Sabich...
, Pleading Guilty
Pleading Guilty
Pleading Guilty, published in 1993, is Scott Turow's third novel, and like the previous two it is set in fictional Kindle County.The novel begins with a middle-aged lawyer, basically waiting to retire, being assigned by his firm to track down another attorney who has embezzled millions from the...
, and Personal Injuries
Personal Injuries
Personal Injuries is a novel by Scott Turow which was published in 1999. Like all of Turow's novels, it takes place in fictional Kindle County and many of the characters are recognized from other Turow novels.-Plot:...
, which Time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
magazine named as the Best Fiction Novel of 1999. All four became bestsellers, and Turow won multiple literary awards, most notably the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers. Many of the characters appear in multiple books, and all of his novels take place in Kindle County. (The state is unspecified, but the county contains a tri-city conglomerate on the Mississippi between Chicago and New Orleans [Burden of Proof p. 52]; compare the "Quad Cities" on the Mississippi, originally Davenport IA, Rock Island IL, Moline IL, and East Moline IL, but now also including Bettendorf IA.) In 1990, Turow was featured on the June 11 cover of Time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
, which described him as "Bard of the Litigious Age". In 1995, Canadian author Derek Lundy
Derek Lundy
Derek Lundy is a Canadian author.His first published book was Scott Turow: Meeting the Enemy. He achieved bestseller status with his sophomore work, Godforsaken Sea: Racing the World's Most Dangerous Waters, an account of the harrowing 1996 Vendee Globe round the world single-handed sailing race...
published a biography of Turow, entitled Scott Turow: Meeting the Enemy (ECW Press, 1995). In the 1990s a British publisher bracketed Turow’s work with that of Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
and John Irving
John Irving
John Winslow Irving is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of The World According to Garp in 1978...
, republished in the series Bloomsbury Modern Library.
Turow is the president of the Authors Guild. He was also President from 1997 to 1998 and has served on its board.
From 1997 to 1998 Turow was a member of the U.S. Senate Nominations Commission for the Northern District of Illinois, which recommends federal judicial
Federal judge
Federal judges are judges appointed by a federal level of government as opposed to the state / provincial / local level.-Brazil:In Brazil, federal judges of first instance are chosen exclusively by public contest...
appointments.
Turow is a partner of the Chicago law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP was an international law firm with nearly 800 lawyers and other professionals in the United States and Europe, serving the needs of many of the world’s best-known businesses, non-profits and individuals. The firm was founded in Chicago in 1906 and as of May 2010...
. Turow works pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
in most of his cases, including a 1995 case where he won the release of Alejandro Hernandez
Jeanine Nicarico murder case
The Jeanine Nicarico murder case was a complex and influential homicide investigation and prosecution in DuPage County, Illinois that sent two men to prison who were later exonerated and released, and contributed to the death penalty moratorium imposed by then-Governor George H...
, who had spent 11 years on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
for a murder he did not commit. He was also appointed to the commission considering the reform of the Illinois death penalty by former Governor George Ryan
George Ryan
George Homer Ryan, Sr. was the 39th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1999 until 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Ryan became nationally known when in 2000 he imposed a moratorium on executions and "raised the national debate on capital punishment"...
and is currently a member of the Illinois State Police Merit Board. He and his wife Annette divorced in late 2008 with three grown children.
Turow gave the commencement speech at the 2011 Rutgers-Camden Law School where he proceeded to lecture on criminal law including his personal views on the death penalty and the killing of Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
.
Fiction
- Presumed InnocentPresumed InnocentPresumed Innocent, published in 1987, is Scott Turow's first novel, which tells the story of a prosecutor charged with the murder of his colleague, an attractive and intelligent prosecutor, Carolyn Polhemus. It is told in the first person by the accused, Rǒzat "Rusty" Sabich...
, 1987 - The Burden of ProofThe Burden of ProofThe Burden of Proof, published in 1990, is Scott Turow's second novel, somewhat of a sequel to Presumed Innocent. The Burden of Proof follows the story of defense attorney Sandy Stern as he attempts to put his life in order in the midst of seeming dishonesty all around him.The novel begins with...
, 1990 - Pleading GuiltyPleading GuiltyPleading Guilty, published in 1993, is Scott Turow's third novel, and like the previous two it is set in fictional Kindle County.The novel begins with a middle-aged lawyer, basically waiting to retire, being assigned by his firm to track down another attorney who has embezzled millions from the...
, 1993 - The Laws of Our FathersThe Laws of Our FathersThe Laws of Our Fathers, published in 1996, is Scott Turow's fourth and longest novel, at 832 pages.-Plot:When last seen in Turow's The Burden of Proof, Sonia Klonsky was a prosecutor in Kindle County Courthouse with a failing marriage, an infant daughter, and a single mastectomy. She becomes the...
, 1996 - Guilty As Charged, 1996 (as editor)
- Personal InjuriesPersonal InjuriesPersonal Injuries is a novel by Scott Turow which was published in 1999. Like all of Turow's novels, it takes place in fictional Kindle County and many of the characters are recognized from other Turow novels.-Plot:...
, 1999 - Reversible ErrorsReversible ErrorsReversible Errors, published in 2002 is Scott Turow's sixth novel, and like the others, set in fictional Kindle County. The novel won the 2003 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Fiction. The title is a legal term....
, 2002 - Ordinary Heroes, 2005
- LimitationsLimitationsLimitations is a novel by Scott Turow which was published in 2006. It is by far his shortest novel and prior to publication as a novel was released as a serial story in the Sunday New York Times Magazine.-Plot summary:...
, 2006 - The Best American Mystery StoriesThe Best American Mystery StoriesThe Best American Mystery Stories is a yearly anthology of mystery stories published in United States magazines and anthologies. It was started in 1997 as part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin...
, 2006 (as editor) - Innocent, 2010 ISBN 978-0446562423
Non-fiction
- One LOne LOne L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School is an autobiographical narrative by Scott Turow.-Summary:One L tells author Turow's experience as a first-year Harvard Law School student.-Reception:...
, 1977 - Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty, 2003
Films
- Presumed InnocentPresumed Innocent (film)Presumed Innocent is a 1990 film adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Scott Turow, which tells the story of a prosecutor charged with the murder of his female colleague and mistress....
, 1990 - The Burden of ProofThe Burden of Proof (film)The Burden of Proof or Scott Turow's The Burden of Proof is a 1992 television miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Scott Turow. The story follows the character Sandy Stern following events in the film and book Presumed Innocent....
, 1992 - Reversible ErrorsReversible Errors (film)Reversible Errors is a 2004 2 episode television miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Scott Turow.It was directed by Mike Robe, who previously directed Scott Turow's The Burden of Proof. Filming was done in and around Halifax, Nova Scotia, and featured shots of Halifax City Hall and...
, 2004
External links
- Official website
- A reading from The Laws of Our Fathers by Scott Turow
- Interview on Ordinary Heroes at the Pritzker Military LibraryPritzker Military LibraryThe Pritzker Military Library is a research library for the study of military history in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded in 2003 by COL James N. Pritzker, IL ARNG to be a non-partisan institution for the study of "the citizen soldier as an essential element for the preservation of...