Scott Turow

Scott Turow is a writer and attorney. He is the author of nine best-selling novels: Presumed Innocent; The Burden of Proof; Pleading Guilty; The Laws of Our Fathers; Personal Injuries; Reversible Errors and Ordinary Heroes. His novella, Limitations, was published as a paperback original following its serialization in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, and he has written two non-fiction books – One L, about his experience as a law student, and Ultimate Punishment, a reflection on the death penalty. Turow has frequently contributed essays and op-ed pieces to publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Playboy and The Atlantic. His books have won a number of literary awards, including the Heartland Prize for Reversible Errors and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for Ultimate Punishment. His books have been translated into more than 25 languages and have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. His recently released Innocent, is the sequel to Presumed Innocent.

Aside from writing, Turow continues to work as an attorney. He has been a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, a national law firm, since 1986, concentrating on white collar criminal defense, while also devoting a substantial part of his time to pro bono matters. In one such case, he represented Alejandro Hernandez in the successful appeal that preceded Hernandez’s release after nearly twelve years in prison – including five on death row – for a murder he did not commit. He has served on a number of public bodies, including the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment to recommend reforms to Illinois’ death penalty system, and was the first Chair of Illinois’ Executive Ethics Commission which was created in 2004 to regulate executive branch employees in the Illinois State government.

Turow attended the Stanford University Creative Writing Center with an Edith Mirrielees Fellowship, and then taught creative writing at Stanford as E.H. Jones Lecturer. He entered Harvard Law School, graduated with honors, and then became an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago. Turow was a prosecutor in the trial of Illinois Attorney General William J. Scott, who was convicted of tax fraud, and was lead government counsel in a number of the trials connected to Operation Greylord, a federal investigation of corruption in the Illinois judiciary.

Turow has been active in a number of charitable causes, including Literacy Chicago. He is a Trustee of Amherst College, and also President-designate of the Authors Guild, the nation’s largest membership organization of professional writers.

Turow is a former member of the Illinois State Police Merit Board, which determines matters of hiring, promotion and discipline for members of the Illinois State Police. He also has served on the United States Senate Nominations Commission for the Northern District of Illinois, which recommends the appointment of federal judges.