Appellate attorney writes harper lee prizewinning novel

• Author: Lee Rawles
• Pages: 70-70

PHOTO BY ROBIN HULTGREN

70 || ABA JOURNAL JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019

When appellate attorney Cynthia

E. Tobisman decided to write her fi rst

novel, Doubt, she had a goal in mind.

“I wanted to create

a lawyer character to

whom justice wasn’t an

abstract idea,” Tobisman

told attendees of the 2018

Harper Lee Prize Awards

in Washington, D.C. “I

wanted it to be something

that for her required righ-

teous action. I wanted a

character that understood

the law as a tool to try to

make the world a fairer

place, especially for peo-

ple who have the cards

stacked against them.”

That character, Caroline

Auden, is also the heroine

of Proof, Tobisman’s sec-

ond novel and the winner

of the 2018 Harper Lee

Prize for Legal Fiction.

The prize is given each

year by the University of

Alabama School of Law

and the ABA Journal to a

novel-length work of fi c-

tion that best illuminates

the role of lawyers in soci-

ety and their power to

e ect change.

“I am honored, hum-

bled and frankly, totally

stunned,” Tobisman says.

“The spirit of To Kill a

Mockingbird is the spirit

of one person’s ability to

make the world a little

more fair. That the selec-

tion committee saw that

spirit in my book is some-

thing that I will treasure

forever.”

Tobisman is a partner

with Greines, Martin,

Stein & Richland in Los

Angeles. Under the name

C.E. Tobisman, she has

two published novels,

Doubt and Proof, and a

comic book series, Inside

the Loop.

In Proof, Auden is a

young hacker-turned-

lawyer who is drawn into

high-level local govern-

ment intrigue when she

looks into a potential elder

abuse case involving her

late grandmother. The two

other 2018 nominees were

Exposed by Lisa Scottoline

and Testimony by Scott

Turow.

“Proof best captures

the spirit of iconic char-

acters, [the] role of

the legal profession in

addressing social issues,

and the concluding legal

monologue of To Kill a

Mockingbird and Go Set

a Watchman,” said Dr.

Hilary Green, an associ-

ate professor of history at

the University of Alabama

and one of the four judges

who selected the winning

novel. “Caroline Auden is

the perfect cross between

lawyer Atticus Finch and

the grown-up Scout.”

“It’s exciting to see this

award go to a practicing

attorney who’s relatively

new to the fi ction scene,”

says Molly McDonough,

editor and publisher of

the Journal. “We also love

seeing attention being

drawn to the important

fi eld of elder law. We look

forward to seeing what

Cindy Tobisman will

bring to the genre of legal

fi ction.”

The Harper Lee

Prize was presented to

Tobisman in an August

ceremony at the Library

of Congress to coincide

with the National Book

Festival. She received

a copy of To Kill a

Mockingbird signed by

Harper Lee, who approved

the creation of the award

in 2010 to mark the 50th

anniversary of her novel.

Past authors of Harper

Lee Prize-winning books

include John Grisham,

Michael Connelly, Paul

Goldstein, Deborah

Johnson, Attica Locke and

James Grippando. Q

APPELLATE

ATTORNEY WRITES

HARPER LEE PRIZE-

WINNING NOVEL

By Lee Rawles

“I wanted to create a

lawyer character to

whom justice wasn’t

an abstract idea.”

—Cynthia Tobisman