William Bernhardt

William Bernhardt is the author of fourteen books with more than ten million copies in print. worldwide, including his internationally bestselling series of courtroom novels featuring attorney Ben Kincaid (the most recent: Murder One), which inspired Library Journal to name Bernhardt the "master of the courtroom drama," and The Vancouver Sun to dub him "the American equivalent of P.G. Wodehouse and John Mortimer."

Bernhardt's novels are renowned for their unexpected twists, legal realism, breathless pace, and for examining trends and issues in American society that later come to national prominence. In addition to his novels exploring the American legal system, he is also the author of The Code of Buddyhood, a literary coming-of-age novel described by The West Coast Review of Books as "a powerful and sophisticated novel about the nature of friendship." Bernhardt has also edited an anthology of original short Fiction and has written a holiday novel, The Midnight Before Christmas.

Bernhardt has appeared on CNN, CNBC, The Today Show, Nightline, and a host of other national and regional television programs. His books have been translated and published in more than a dozen countries. He has twice received the Oklahoma Book Award for Best Fiction, in 1995 and 1999. In 2000, he received OSU's H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award, which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." That same year, he was presented with a Career Achievement Award at the 2000 Booklovers Convention in Houston. He has also been inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame, the youngest author ever so honored.

In addition to his work a writer, Bernhardt is also the founder and owner of HAWK Publishing Group, an independent publishing house headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. HAWK has published wide variety of new and classic books by acclaimed authors including PBS newsman Jim Lehrer, The Waltons creator Earl Hamner, actress Ronnie Claire Edwards, Teresa Miller, Linda Phillips Ashour, and many others.

Bernhardt obtained his law degree at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, worked as a trial lawyer at a large law firm for nine years, and was repeatedly recognized for his pro bono work for the underprivileged and for his work with teenagers interested in law. The Oklahoma Bar Association presented him with a special award for Outstanding Service to the Public, and in 1994 he was named one of the top twenty young lawyers in the nation by the American Bar Association's Barrister magazine.

In 1995, Bernhardt served as President of Novelists Inc., a national coalition of professional writers. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Tulsa Arts and Humanities Council, the Writers Advisory Panel of the Oklahoma Arts Institute, and as chairman of the Peggy V. Helmerich Literary Award Selection Committee.

Bernhardt's many activities within and beyond the world of books have led OSU to dub him "Oklahoma's Renaissance Man." Other recent Bernhardt projects have included writing a mystery play for an Arts and Humanities Council fundraiser, songwriting (he plays the piano), creating a board game, producing a CD for the musical group Dunstanfolk, and constructing crossword puzzles for The New York Times and Games Magazine. He lives in Tulsa with his wife, Kirsten, and their children, Harry, Alice, and Ralph.

Bernhardt is known as "the master of the courtroom drama" and has won several awards for his work. Bernhardt has also received awards for public service, and in 1993 was named one of the top 25 young lawyers in the nation. He received the Oklahoma Book Award for Fiction in 1995 for Perfect Justice and again in 2000 for Dark Justice. He lives in Tulsa.