Mockingbird has influenced generations of college graduat graduates, aspiring to practice law like Atticus Finch to go to law school. Last year on the occasion of the books 50th anniversary we contacted harper lee who graciously authorized this award to honor an author whose work best exemplifies the positive role of warriors in society and their power to effect change. The prize is grounded in the character of a lawyer, lawyer, Atticus Finch, indispensable and courageous representation of tom robinson. On september 21, 2010 u. S. Attorney general eric holder honored our law school when he came to tuscaloosa, alabama to help celebrate half a century of to kill a mockingbird and to help us to establish this award. Our law school has a very special partner in this award and sponsor at the journal which is read by about half of the nations lawyers monthly about half million lawyers but we now call upon jack to make some remarks, jack is the executive director of the ada. [applause] thank you, dean. It will surprise you, i know, but American Bar Association occasionally does things that are controversial. When we are asked by the university of alabama to partner with them in this award we were able to do something that totally was uncontroversial. Honoring harper lee is a great idea and choosing the writer who highlights the role of lawyers in society is a great idea and so we were able to define a role for this with the university of Alabama School of law and honored to do so and its especially fitting that the first interbeing on grisham couldve won the award a number of years ago had the award assisted at the time but hes a very deserving winner and we are delighted to present it to him. We note there will be many future winners who will be quite deserving as well and we hope some people are inspired to write the good stories about lawyers from this but the particular book he wrote, the confession i know many of you have read it as especially timely and it was a remarkably good job and does tell a very good lawyer story. The American Bar Association is the Worlds Largest voluntary professional organization and is this is one of those good things to do that we are delighted to partner with. Dean, thank you and the university of Alabama Law School for the opportunity. [applause] as you probably know our ceremony is occurring this week at the same time as the National Book festival here in dc which is sponsored by the library of congress so we will now will ask roberto schaefer, law library in a car is to make some remarks. Thank you, dean and other distinguished guests. I am delighted to be celebrating with you today at the inauguration of the harper leave prize for legal fiction. I will note that today is situated between two other important events that happened close in time. One was the celebration last week of Constitution Day and saturday in addition to kicking off the library of congress is 11th National Book festival we will also be kicking off the annual banned books week. Has many of you know to kill a mockingbird has had a high place on the honor roll of banned books for many, many years. Im here representing the library of congress but think im actually representing libraries in general. When all the honors are given in all the book tours are over although i guess for some they never stop. [laughter] books along with other intellectual treasures come to libraries to live long and rewarding lives and to offer explanations of the past and inspiration for the future. They sit on shelves, today either physical or virtual alongside works in other media and by other writers whose ideas may support or challenge the other ideas in these fantastic knowledge capsules. In these collections of knowledge challenge us to consider and study myriad of subjects, looking at topics of class, color, codes, legal or social codes, communication and even art clothing as young scout in to kill a mockingbird often protests what women have to we wear. Books of fact or fiction or those somewhere in between ask us to look at ourselves and our society every day and many may even ask are we killing the mockingbirds . At the very same time they try to entertain and educate us. Our libraries, personal, public or even congressional are constant reminders to our children, our judges, our lawmakers, our fellow citizens and even our adversaries of our Cultural Values and of the legacies that we want to be remembered by. This afternoon we are honoring two great authors, harper lee and john grisham. They can be assured that as long as we have libraries their work will continue to be honored. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you, roberta. Looking around this room we could recognize so many special guests today and i know we members of the federal judiciary and you honor with your presence but i do want to single out and im sure mr. Grisham will do it later on and we many representatives from random house, sunny, gina and the rest of johns Publishing Team and we want to recognize you with a round of applause as well. [applause] we had an Outstanding Committee that selected this book and so many books were nominated and we had a group in tuscaloosa an ulcer that narrowed the skin scaled onto three books and then had an outstanding Selection Committee and i will go out in alphabetical order. Even bald duchy to my right whom is a bestselling author and his first novel, absolute power, published in 1986 was an immediate bestseller and he has since published more than 20 novels and seven original screenplays with his wife, michelle. They are known for their philanthropic work with the wish you well foundation promoting Adult Literacy and he received his jd from the university of virginia but to my left and my dear friend a graduate of the university of Alabama Law School cofounder and it still remains chief child counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center in montgomery and probably of anyone else in the state of alabama singlehandedly shut down the kkk in alabama. Also want to recognize from the committee as to robert gray, graduate of washington and Lee Law School and has worked with us on several projects but we will claim you as an honorary alumni. Robert is a former president of the ada and partner in the Prestigious Firm of hunting and williams. Two members of the 20 cannot be with us, jeff who has worked with us on other things on her just as awards, cnn senior legal analyst and committed to the new yorker magazine just a few days ago we learned that linda fehr stein cannot be with us and she is a bustling crime novelist and former prosecutor so lets recognize this election committee. [applause] in a few minutes David Baldacci will lead a Panel Discussion of the book we are honoring today, the confession, i want to take a few minutes telling you about the author of the confession, mr. John grisham. Im probably just repeating fax you all know but the more famous of person i guess the shorter the introduction. John grisham was originally from arkansas graduated from the university of Mississippi Law School in 1981 and practiced law for nearly one decade, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation but he also served in the Mississippi House of representatives from 1983 until 1990. As difficult as all of us lawyers know it is to practice law he somehow wrote every morning before the crack of dawn and published a time to kill in 1988. His next book, the firm, spent 47 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was a bustling novel, bestselling novel of 1991. Two more of his books immediately claimed the number one spot on that list, the pelican brief and the clients. Mr. Grisham has written about one legal Fiction Books a year, nine have been turned into movies and he has also written about other diverse subjects such as baseball and aging football quarterback and christmas. Mr. Grishams nonfiction book, the innocent man, symbolizes, and as i understand it galvanize this commitment to the goal of exonerating the wrongly convicted and as much about today actively in the Innocence Project nationally. In 1996 mr. Grisham took a break from writing to fulfill a promise he made to represent the family of a railroad break man who was killed when pinned between two cars. Youre in his client a jury award of 683,000 and in his own lawyering in that he surmises of some of the best lawyering in his books. It is not my great honor to present to the inaugural harper lee prize for legal fiction to john grisham. [applause] thank you, Deena Randall for this award and thanks also to the university of Alabama School of law. To the aba journal for cosponsoring the award, thank you to harper lee forgiving her blessings to what we are doing here today. I especially thank the incredible intelligent and insightful, well read and astute panel of judges that shows my book. [laughter] you guys are really sharp. Many of us, especially those from the south can remember the first time that we read to kill a mockingbird. For me i was in the ninth grade, mr. Tubbs english class 15 years old in 90s his nine when we read the story and for the first time that class had black kids in it. It prompted some discussions that were not always comfortable. As a child and as a kid reading the book i was entertained by the adventures of scout and jem as they tormented boo radley and watched surfaced officially the trial of tom robinson. Reading the book as an adult i was more impressed with the dignity and courage of tom and his lawyer, Atticus Finch, also known as gregory peck. I was astounded by the injustice of that era. The trial was 75 years ago. For those of us who observed the legal system and write about it we are still confronted with injustice and inequality in a system that often convicts innocent people and send them to prison and even executes them. Unlike many, i cannot say the Atticus Finch inspired me to go to law school. I dont know what i was thinking when i went to law school. But i do recall 30 years ago standing in a courtroom in a small town in venice it be a rookie lawyer, the way out of my league defending a black man charged with murder looking at an allwhite jury. I kept thinking what would atticus do now. What would atticus do now . A few years later when i began secretly writing my first novel i was drawn back to to kill a mockingbird for the incredible storytelling ability of harper lee and for the themes of injustice and loss of innocence for the humor but most importantly for me for the character of Atticus Finch. A few years later after my first book was published and several other books i received a package one day unmarked, opened it up and it was from harper lee and was copy of to kill a mockingbird, it was not a First Edition in that book is still in print so there it are still additions ongoing but it was an early addition and she inscribed to john grisham, best wishes, harper lee. It is a prized possession and i have a place for it on the wall and today i will add it next to this award here. Now that i have two earlier, dean randall gave me another signed copy of to kill a mockingbird i have two kids and i love to collect old books but they are constantly bickering about who gets what. Theyve been worried about who gets a copy of to kill a mockingbird well, now i have two things to you. [laughter] thank you for this award. [applause] thank you, john. Its now time for our Panel Discussion comparing the two books and exploring their place in legal literature and their impact moderated by David Baldacci introduced weve a few of the palace but we have two other panelists to introduce big dalia, contribute in editor at newsweek and Senior Editor at slate where she writes a Supreme Court dispatches and jurisprudence and has been a guest columnist for the New York Times oped page. Also [inaudible] director of the forum on law, culture and society at the Fordham Law School and himself offered several highly regarded novels. I will turn it over to david at this point. I want to add my congratulations to john. I was one of those very literary minded astute judges. [laughter] who picked the confession is a book and is much a deserving of this award. It was stiff competition but all the judges agreed and we had our Conference Call and went over the books in detail that johns book rose head and shoulders above the other books that were very fine books in their own respected it was a book that was eminently readable, terrifically entertaining and deals with substantive issues in a way that asked everyone or should make everyone read the book think about appeared in a shameless plug either as a poster back there the next we will do in october or next month and Yale University to feature highlight another iconic figure in american literature, mark twain. Its a fundraiser for the mark twain museum. Judy pickled will join john and i on stage and if you are in that part of the country and want to go to it, please do bring all the funds go to Mark Twain House Museum and in this country we cant celebrate writers like harper lee and mark train that we are doing so thereon. The panel is here, john has agreed to be up and participate if he wants to or he can listen and if we get things us no, i am sure. I have a series of questions here but i will ask the questions but i think we will have a free flow dialogue. I will call on any one person on the panel to answer so please feel free to jump in. I like this question. I will start with it. How has the lawyer pretrade in popular fiction changed in the 50 years since Atticus Finch can make Atticus Finch was a lawyer we should all have at least one time in our lives when being accused of a really bad crime. He is the guide that will be there for us and stands for what is good and pure and seems to be ideal in a sense that its hard to understand how a person can be there. How have lawyers changed in the 50 years since Atticus Finch . Everyone is looking at me. Yes, please go. While, for one thing Atticus Finch is a flawless character. For many people who read to kill a mockingbird that is some of the complexity of the book is that you have a character who is just too good, so good at the end that hes willing to have his own son prosecuted for the voluntary manslaughter of one of the most evil man in all of alabama. Overly righteous. And now we see characters with much more complexity, characters who have flaws and who are, in fact, using the law and many of John Grishams richters fall into this quality. They are using the case as a way to redeem themselves and it is a way for them to find themselves, through the law. Atticus finch was quite clear of who he was as a father and as a town legislator and who he was as a native son of alabama and if you look at art today the characters are as lost as their clients. We find them struggling with divorce and alcoholism and real human struggles and that makes it a huge difference between the last 50 years of we see characters of more character with texture into humanity. Or us. What i think is the campaign against lawyers, especially trial lawyers by the political right in america and the u. S. Chamber of commerce and others finding its way infection back in the time and i started practicing law we didnt see lawyers condemned as lawyers and trial lawyers but we were honored people. In fact, when you had a capital murder case in the country and the person was innocent the finest lawyers would be in town and you had to volunteer to represent this person and i think the Legal Profession is really condemned today, in many ways and you see that creeping into fiction also. I speak to a lot of law students and i always tell them that if they read henry the sixth they would read that if tyranny is to prevail you must first kill all the lawyers and then the first part of that shakespeare play is omitted today and i think john grisham has helped put it back in place. I might just ahead and maybe its a hybrid of the two points that have been made but i think that there is a sense that lawyers in fiction today are working against immutable machines, and away they did not used to be. I think one of the things you dont see anymore is lawyers who feel that their firm is a good place to be, lawyers who feel the government is a good place to be. There is a sense that there is this leviathan structure that fundamentally corrupts and that goes to some of these points about the real questions about the integrity of the legal system but in addition to having a drink in their hands and in modern fiction every lawyer has a drink in their hands, male and female but i think they are very disaffected and frustrated and broken and hopeless and i think it goes to, in a sense, that the legal system isnt respected and verified the way it once was. I would try to put a positive spin on this. That would be hopeful. Over the last 50 years, actually, i think one of the really good and positive attributes of fiction in the timeframe that we are talking about is and appreciation and understanding of the legal system. It is a complex but very critical part of our life in this country. Its a foundation for our democracy. And to have authors wh