Scott Turow
Author Scott Turow was interviewed for BookCast by Fairfax County Public Library Director Sam Clay.
Writer and attorney Scott Turow 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 two non-fiction books include Ultimate Punishment, a reflection on the death penalty which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and One L, about his experience as a law student. He was invited to FCPL as a part of The Big Read/All Fairfax Reads because of the issues raised around capital punishment in A Lesson Before Dying.
Turow attended the Stanford University Creative Writing Center. He then taught creative writing at Stanford. He entered Harvard Law School, graduating with honors. He was then an assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago.
A working attorney, Turow is a partner in a Chicago law firm specializing in white collar crime. He also spends a lot of time on pro bono work. 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.
Turow is a member of Illinois' Executive Ethics Commission and previously served as Chair of the Illinois State Appellate Defender’s Commission. He served as one of the fourteen members of the Commission appointed by Illinois Governor George Ryan to consider reform of the capital punishment system.