Scott Turow addressed his dual role as an attorney and best-selling author in a lecture titled ""Reflections of a Man with Two Heads"" on Monday at Grainger Hall.
Turow's books, which include ""The Burden of Proof"" and ""Reversible Errors,"" have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. His book ""Presumed Innocent,"" was made into a 1990 film starring Harrison Ford.
""We wanted to bring in someone who's well-known and has written literary works and policy-oriented works of legal significance,"" said Donald Downs, director of the UW-Madison Legal Studies program, which sponsored the lecture.
Turow said he always planned to be a novelist, but became frustrated after his Amherst College professors would not teach him how to write a novel. He said he finally sat down and just wrote one he now describes as ""pretentious.""
Publishers rejected it, but Turow continued to write.
He said he then became drawn to law and came to realize the similarities between capturing and sustaining the attention of a juror and of a reader.
""I learned a lot about how to be a novelist by prosecuting cases,"" Turow said, citing the importance of good storytelling and clear communication.
""The story of how evil happens is of perpetual interest to human beings, given our own wars with ourselves,"" Turow said.
Turow also is known for his pro bono legal work. In one case, he successfully appealed for the release of a man who had spent 12 years in prison, including five on death row for a murder he did not commit.
""My teacher said he was kind of a big deal, so I decided to check him out,"" said Rachel Zabit, UW-Madison sophomore, who said she is considering attending law school. ""I liked his stories, like when he went to Harvard and his teacher said he might sue him.""
Turow wrote a non-fiction book about life as a law student, ""One L,"" published while he was still a law student. One professor, who had become a central character of the book and did not like his portrayal, created an exam question asking students to explain the grounds he had for suing Turow.
