Phillip Margolin, Author

Phillip Margolin grew up in New York City and Levittown, New York. After graduating from the American University in Washington, D.C. Phillip was a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, West Africa. In 1970, he graduated from New York University School of Law. His first job after law school was a clerkship with Herbert M. Schwab, the Chief Judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals. In practice from 1972 until 1996, he specialized in criminal defence and appeared at trial and appellate courts including the US Supreme Court. As a trial attorney, Phillip represented nearly three dozen people charged with homicide, including several who faced the death penalty. He was the first Oregon attorney to use the Battered Women's Syndrome to defend a battered woman accused of murdering her spouse.

Since 1996, Phillip Margolin has written full-time, with every one of his novels a best seller. His novels have been nominated for and won awards as diverse as the Oregon Book Award and the Edgar, have been Literary Guild and Book of the Month Club selections, and have been made into movies and television series. In addition to my novels, he has published short stories and non-fiction articles in magazines and law journals. Also since 1996, Phillip has been the President and Chairman of the Board of Chess for Success, a non-profit charity that uses chess to teach study skills to elementary and middle school children.