HARPER LEE PRIZE FOR LEGAL FICTION FINALISTS

The Finalists for the 2020 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction have been announced. The books nominated for the tenth annual award are:

The Satapur Moonstone, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime) 
The Hallows, by Victor Methos (Thomas & Mercer) 
An Equal Justice, by Chad Zunker (Thomas & Mercer)

The prize, which was authorized by the late Harper Lee, was established in 2011 by the University of Alabama Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law and the ABA Journal to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird. It is given annually to a book-length work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.

HARPER LEE PRIZE FOR LEGAL FICTION FINALISTS: You can vote!

The Finalists for the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction have been announced, and now readers will have a chance to weigh in. The books nominated for the ninth annual award are:

The Boat People by Sharon Bala
Class Action by Steven B. Frank
The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey

Vote HERE:
http://www.abajournal.com/polls/2019HarperLeePrize

From The ABAJournal
“This year’s Harper Lee Prize was particularly difficult to judge,” said Molly McDonough, editor and publisher of the ABA Journal. “We were evaluating so many gripping and compelling reads.”

The prize, which was authorized by the late Harper Lee, was established in 2011 by the University of Alabama Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law and the ABA Journal to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird. It is given annually to a book-length work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.

“The finalists represent the diversity of this year’s submissions, from a novel about Sri Lankan refugees seeking a new start, to the story of a trailblazing woman lawyer fighting for her clients in 1920s India, and finally a charming middle school book featuring a spunky student who goes to court after he’s suspended for protesting homework,” said McDonough. “The characters are as inspiring as they are engaging.”

The Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction will be awarded at an August ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the National Book Festival. The winner will receive a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird signed by Harper Lee. The authors whose books have previously won the prize are John Grisham (in 2011 and 2014), Michael Connelly, Paul Goldstein, Deborah Johnson, Attica Locke, James Grippando and C. E. Tobisman.

Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. CT on Sunday, June 30.

VOTE HERE!
http://www.abajournal.com/polls/2019HarperLeePrize

HARPER LEE PRIZE FOR LEGAL FICTION

Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction

C. E. Tobisman’s legal thriller, Proof, was named the winner of the 2018 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. Book 2 in the Caroline Auden series, Proof was published in summer 2017 by Thomas & Mercer, the mystery, thriller, and true crime imprint of Amazon Publishing.

Founded eight years ago by the University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA Journal to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, and to honor former law student and author Harper Lee, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction is given to a book-length work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.

Tobisman is the eighth winner of the prize, and will be honored with a signed special edition of To Kill a Mockingbird at the 2018 prize ceremony at the Library of Congress, in conjunction with the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.

“I am honored, humbled, and frankly, totally stunned,” Tobisman said. “The spirit of To Kill a Mockingbird is the spirit of one person’s ability to make the world a little more fair. That the selection committee saw that spirit in my book is something that I will treasure forever.”

Proof follows hacker-turned-lawyer Caroline Auden, and is the second book in the Caroline Auden series. The first book in the series, Doubt, was published in 2016 by Thomas & Mercer. C. E. Tobisman is an appellate attorney, handling cases in the California courts of appeal and Supreme Court. After graduating from UC Berkeley and attending law school there, she moved to Los Angeles, where she now lives with her wife and their three children.

Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction

The winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction was announced yesterday. The prize was authorized by the late Harper Lee, and established in 2011 by the University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA Journal to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird. It is given annually to a book-length work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.

Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction:
Gone Again, by James Grippando

The award ceremony will take place in September at the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

HT: The Rap Sheet via The Gumshoe Site

Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction Finalists

Finalists for the seventh annual Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The prize was authorized by the late Harper Lee, and established in 2011 by the University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA Journal to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird. It is given annually to a book-length work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.

Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction Finalists

Gone Again, by James Grippando
The Last Days of Night, by Graham Moore
Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult

“The ABA Journal is honored to be a continuing part of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction,” says Molly McDonough, the editor and publisher of the ABA Journal. “We’re particularly excited about the diversity of topics in this year’s finalists: a compelling narrative on race in America, a riveting piece of historical fiction on the lawyering behind the electrification of America, and a gripping legal thriller with a race against the death penalty at the center of the story.”

A four-person panel will vote on which novel should take the prize, with the result of a public poll counting as a fifth vote. The poll will remain open through June 30. The judges on the panel are Deborah Johnson, winner of the 2015 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction for The Secret of Magic; Cassandra King, author of The Same Sweet Girls Guide to Life; Don Noble, host of Alabama Public Radio’s book-review series and host of Bookmark, which airs on Alabama Public Television; and Han Nolan, author of Dancing on the Edge.

The award ceremony will take place at the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

To vote for one of the books, go here.

Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction

Attica Locke's Pleasantville (Harper) has won the 2016 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.

Other nominees:
Chuck Greaves' (C. Joseph Greaves) Tom & Lucky and George & Cokey Flo (Bloomsbury USA)
Kermit Roosevelt's Allegiance (Regan Arts)

The Harper Lee Prize was inaugurated in 2011 to coincide with publication of the 50th Anniversary edition of To Kill a Mockingbird, and is a joint venture of the American Bar Association and the University of Alabama School of Law that honors a book length work of American fiction that, in the spirit of Mockingbird, “best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.” The award will be presented in September of 2016 in conjunction with the Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington D.C.