Scott Turow Biography

American novelist, born in Chicago, educated at Amherst College, Stanford University, and Harvard University. His first book, One L.: An Inside Account of Life in the First Year at Harvard Law School (1977), remains widely read by students. He was an assistant United States attorney in Chicago from 1978 to 1986, when he joined a Chicago legal practice; he divides his time between writing and legal work. Presumed Innocent (1987) established him as a best-selling author. Its narrative of municipal corruption and lack of judicial integrity derives authenticity from Turow's knowledge of the American legal system, as do The Burden of Proof (1990), in which a defence lawyer finds himself enmeshed in intrigues and duplicity after his wife's murder, and Pleading Guilty (1993), which centres on the disappearance of a large sum of money from the accounts of a legal practice.