A
few days ago Gone Again by James
Grippando was chosen as the winner of the 2017 Harper Lee Prize for Legal
Fiction. The other books on the shortlist were Last Days of Night by Graham Moore and Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult.
Grippando
told Award Co-Sponsor, The American Bar Association Journal, after being
chosen:
“I don’t know
who’s happier, James Grippando the writer or James Grippando the lawyer,” he
said. “Winning the 2017 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction is easily the
proudest moment of my dual career.”
Molly
McDonough, editor and publisher of the ABA Journal said:
Grippando’s book
does a masterful, entertaining job exploring the important topic of the death
penalty and actual innocence.
Gone Again was not the
winner of the ABA Journal’s annual poll of readers with regard to the
shortlist:
1.) Small Great Things – 83.24%
2.) Gone Again - 13.42%
3.) Last Days of Night - 4.22%
Small Great Things drew a higher
percentage of votes than any other book in the polls of the past few years with
regard to the Prize.
It
is a disappointment that the University of Alabama Law School, co-sponsor of
the Award, has yet to put up a post about the winner on the section of its
website devoted to the Prize.
Grippando
will receive the Award on September 14 at the University.
On
the website of his law firm, Boies Schiller Flexner, Grippando’s biography
states:
His recent litigation and appellate experience includes
trademark and copyright infringement arbitration, trade secret disputes, and a
major victory at the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a class action
lawsuit involving Madoff investors. He regularly provides antitrust,
intellectual property, and other advice to a wide range of clients, from Tony
Award-winning Broadway producers to the world's largest sanctioning body for
stock car racing. He has
lectured at various conferences for the American Bar Association and the
American Intellectual Property Law Association, published editorials on timely
legal issues in the National Law Journal and other major
newspapers, and provided legal insights on national TV programs, such as
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
In my latest posts I have reviewed all of the
finalists for the Award.
My next post will set out which book I
thought deserved to win the Prize.
Congratulations to Grippando. And I agree with you, Bill, that it would be good if the university had a section about the winning author/book on its Harper Lee prize page. I hope they'll decide to do that. In the meantime, I look forward to your thoughts on which book deserved to win.
ReplyDeleteMargot: Thanks for the comment. Grippando has written a fine book.
DeleteI haven't read any of the books so I should not have an opinion.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to read a book by Grippando as I like legal mysteries, but I don't want to read about the death penalty and more injustice. I see enough of it right here on the news since some states refuse to stop this barbaric practice. And recently some men were executed.
So I'll look at his themes in other books.
Kathy D.: Thanks for the comment. I share your objection to the death penalty. I do not see how America is safer with the death penalty.
DeleteAnd not just the death penalty, but they execute people with developmental disabilities and mental illness, people who had poor legal representation (Texas, happens), etc. Even though the Supreme Court ruled against executions of people developmentally disabled, states do it anyway. It's horrific.
ReplyDeleteBut can you recommend other books by Grippando? He wrote several and I like legal mysteries, but have no knowledge of his.
Kathy D.: Thanks for the comment. I have not read any other books by Grippando. I am thinking I should try more of his books.
Delete