Scott Turow has lived in the Chicago area most of his life. He is currently practicing criminal law in Chicago and is also one of America's most popular novelists who specializes in intricate crime mysteries. Three of his books have been made into feature films starting with Presumed Innocent in 1990 starring Illinois-native Harrison Ford. Scott was born in Chicago on April 12, 1949 and raised in the northern suburbs. He graduated from New Trier High School in 1966. In 1970 Scott graduated with honors with a B.A. in English from Amherst College. He went on to study writing at Stanford University where he received an M.A. in 1974.
Scott taught at Stanford from 1972 to 1975 and attended Harvard Law School from 1975 to 1978 when he received his Juris Doctor degree. He became a trustee of Amherst in 2002. From 1978 to 1986, Scott was an Assistant U. S. Attorney for the Northern District in Chicago. He was one of the prosecutors in the tax fraud trial of former Illinois Treasurer and Attorney General William J. Scott and was also a prosecutor of Cook County judges in the Operation Greylord cases.