Scott Turow Biography
Scott Turow continues to work as an attorney, and is a partner in the
Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, a national law firm
with 600 lawyers. His practice centers on white collar
criminal litigation and he devotes a substantial part of his
practice now to pro bono work, including representations in
cases involving the death penalty. In one of these matters,
Alejandro Hernandez, co-defendant of Rolando Cruz, was exonerated
after 11 years in prison.
He was born on April 12, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated
with high honors from Amherst College in 1970. That year, he
received an Edith Mirrielees Fellowship to the Stanford University
Creative Writing Center, which he attended from 1970-72. From 1972 to 1975, he taught Creative Writing at Stanford, as E.H.
Jones Lecturer. In 1975, he entered Harvard Law School, graduating with honors
in 1978. From 1978 to 1986, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in
Chicago. He was one of the prosecutors in the trial of Illinois Attorney General
William J. Scott, who was convicted of tax fraud. He was also lead government counsel
in a number of the trials connected to Operation Greylord, a federal
investigation of corruption in the Illinois judiciary. He has
been active in a number of charitable causes, including Literacy
Chicago. In 1997-98, he served as president of the Authors Guild,
which is the national membership organization for professional
writers, and continues to serve on its governing board. He is a
Trustee of Amherst College.
He has been appointed to a number of public bodies. He is currently
the Chairman of Illinois' Executive Ethics Commission. From 2002-2004, he served
as Chair of the Illinois State Appellate Defender's Commission, which oversees
the state agency which represents indigent criminal defendants in their appeals.
He served as one of the fourteen members of the Commission appointed in March,
2000, by Illinois Governor George Ryan to consider reform of the capital
punishment system; the Commission was appointed after Governor Ryan declared a
Moratorium on executions and delivered its report in April 2002. From 2000 to
2002, He was a 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 in 1997 and 1998 on the United States
Senate Nominations Commission for the Northern District of Illinois,
which recommended appointment of federal judges.
Scott Turow has three adult children. He lives outside Chicago.
This biography was last updated on 06/10/2011.
A note about the biographies
We try to keep BookBrowse's biographies both up to date and accurate. However, with over 2000 lives to keep track of it's inevitable that
some won't be as current or as complete as we would like. So, please help us - if the information about a particular author is out of date,
inaccurate or simply very short, and you know of a more complete source, please let us know. Authors and those connected with authors:
If you wish to make changes to your bio, please send your complete biography as you would like it displayed so that we replace the old with the new, including your website URL if relevant.
