Laura Caldwell

Laura Caldwell is a former civil trial attorney who is now a law professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She is also director of Life After Innocence and a published author of 14 novels and two nonfiction books. Before beginning her writing career, Laura was a partner in a Chicago law firm, specializing in medical malpractice defense and entertainment law. In 2001 she joined Loyola University Chicago School of Law and has taught Advanced Litigation Writing and International Criminal Law, among others.

Laura began her writing career in women’s fiction and soon turned to mystery/thriller. Her first book, Burning the Map, was voted as one of the best books of the year by Barnes and Noble.com. Booklist declared "Caldwell is one of the most talented and inventive … writers around," after the release of The Year of Living Famously and The Night I Got Lucky.

While researching her sixth novel, The Rome Affair, Laura was led to the criminal case of a young man who was coerced into confessing to a crime he didn’t commit. Charged with murder, he sat in a Cook County holding cell for nearly six years with no trial date. After hearing about his case, Laura joined a renowned criminal defense attorney to defend him, ultimately proving his innocence and inspiring her first nonfiction book, Long Way Home.