Touro Law Honors Legal Lit Legend Grisham

Author John Grisham addresses an audience at Touro College’s Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, where he received the annual Bruce K. Gould Book Award. Photo courtesy of Touro.

By David Brand

Touro College’s Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center honored best-selling author John Grisham with the school’s annual Bruce K. Gould Book Award.

Touro recognized Grisham on Oct. 22 for his novel “The Rooster Bar.” Grisham’s other best-selling legal-themed works include “A Time to Kill,” “The Firm” and “The Pelican Brief.”

Each year, the university presents the award to the author of an outstanding publication related to the law, the legal profession or the legal system. The prize is named for benefactor Bruce K. Gould, an 1984 graduate of Touro Law Center. Gould is a founding member and second president of Touro Law Center’s Alumni Association and a member of Touro Law Center’s Board of Governors.

Past recipients include Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor for her book “My Beloved World”, Anita Hill for her book “Speaking Truth to Power” and Bob Woodward for his book “The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006 - 2008.”

Grisham graduated from University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law throughout the 1980s. He also served in the Mississippi House of Representatives as a Democrat from 1984 to 1990.

The award, which was first handed out in 1991, is regarded as one of the most prestigious prizes for law-related literature.