The concept of the lawyer cum novelist has received much more attention in recent years with the success of the likes of John Grisham. But add to those ranks another new face from the legal community, D. J. (Daniel John) Meador, author of two novels, Unforgotten and His Father's House.
Publishers Weekly praised His Father's House, saying, “Meador's suspenseful debut novel ingeniously melds adventure, Cold War politics, a love story, and a search for roots.” It has been optioned by SouthernWay Productions for motion picture adaptation.
Meador, the James Monroe Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School, has been selected director of a Senate commission to study the appellate court system. He will work with retired Supreme Court Justice Byron White on the project. Coincidentally, Unforgotten, Meador's new novel, revolves around John Winston, a Birmingham, Alabama, lawyer, whose life is changed forever when he is offered a seat on a federal court of appeals. But will it change for the better . . . or for the worse.
In his novels, Meador draws on his personal experiences and knowledge. Formerly, he was an assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice and dean of the School of Law at the University of Alabama.
A graduate of Harvard Law School (LL.M), he has written ten books specifically for scholarly legal subjects. The titles range from studies of the executive branch to bibliographies on supreme court justices to treatises on the East German legal system. His professional associations read like a top-ten list of legal organizations including the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute, the American Society of Legal History, and the Fulbright Association.
Daniel J. Meador has been recognized by his colleagues in both teaching and law for his outstanding work. Among honors he has received are the University of Virgina's Thomas Jefferson Award, the American Judicature Society's Justice Award, and the American College of Trial Lawyers' Samuel E. Gates Litigation Award.