Recovering Lawyers Who Are Now Writers by Debra H. Goldstein
Readers are quite familiar with stories of writers who were addicted to different substances that were reflected in their writing. These include Robert Louis Stevenson (cocaine- Dr. Jerkyl and Mr. Hyde), Ken Kesey (LSD – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), and Tennessee Williams (alcohol – e.g. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof). Many have written about their journeys to sobriety/recovery. What hasn’t been mentioned is how many authors, including myself, are recovering law students, J.D. recipients, and sometimes still practicing attorneys.
After perusing several blogs and articles for their legal beginnings, some who now write literary or crime fiction include:
Elizabeth Strout – Syracuse University College of Law
Mary Jin Lee – Georgetown
Ben Fountain – Duke Law School
Charles Yu – Columbia Law School
Mohsin Hamid – Harvard Law School
Margaret Wilkerson Sexton – U.C. Berkeley School of Law
Adam Haslett – Yale Law School
Jane Pek – New York University Law School
Scott Turow – Harvard Law School
Meg Gardiner – Stanford Law School
Wallace Stevens – New York Law School
Richard North Patterson – Case Western Reserve University School of Law
John Grisham – University of Mississippi School of Law
Lisa Scottoline – University of Pennsylvania Law School
Robert Rotstein – UCLA School of Law
Robert Bailey – University of Alabama Law School
Jasmine Guillory – Stanford Law School
Pam Jenoff – University of Pennsylvania Law School
Allison Leotta – Harvard Law School
Marjorie M. Liu – University of Wisconsin
Theodora Goss – Harvard Law School
Brad Meltzer – Columbia Law School
Marcia Clark – Southwestern University School of Law
Leslie Karst – Stanford Law School
and, of course:
Erle Stanley Gardner who started law school in Indiana, was suspended, and later went to California, where he studied law on his own and passed the California bar.
Can you add anyone, including yourself, to my list?
