GRANITE CITY HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS OF 1968

Douglas E. Winter believes in the power of words, whether in the courtroom or on the printed page. His mother, a Granite City school teacher, encouraged him to read and write at an early age; in second grade, he wrote his first “book.” His father, a self-made businessman, taught him the virtue of persistence. Today, Mr. Winter is a respected lawyer and the author of fifteen published books, more than 300 articles and short stories, and two motion picture screenplays.

After graduating from Granite City High School in 1968, Mr. Winter received Bachelor and Master's degrees in Communications from the University of Illinois (1971, 1972). He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1975.

Mr. Winter began his legal career as law clerk to Judge (later FBI Director and CIA Director) William H. Webster. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, then entered private practice. In 1987, he became a partner in Bryan Cave LLP, resident in its Washington, D.C., office. As a trial and appellate lawyer, he appears in state and federal courts across the nation, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He is currently the head of Bryan Cave’s Electronic Discovery Unit.

The Legal 500 recently identified Mr. Winter as a “key expert” in products liability, aviation, and mass tort litigation. He handles cases with sophisticated procedural and technology issues, including the first products liability suit involving an accident in outer space; the U.S. Air Force’s “friendly fire” shoot-down of United Nations helicopters in Iraq; the explosion of a Delta II launch vehicle at Cape Canaveral; the 1991 crash of a United Airlines DC-10 at Sioux City, Iowa; and the 2005 crash of a Kyrgyzstani airliner near Kabul, Afghanistan.

Mr. Winter was lead counsel in the longest aviation jury trial in American history: the 19-month trial arising from the crash of Northwest Airlines Flight 255 at Detroit, Michigan. He has prevailed in key decisions establishing the government contractor defense, the sophisticated user defense, and the state secrets defense. He has also volunteered his time to represent disabled veterans, the mentally disadvantaged, people afflicted with HIV and AIDS, and other needy Americans.

The Book of the Month Club selected Mr. Winter’s novel RUN as the “Suspense Novel of the Year.” His other books include the only authorized biography/critique of Stephen King, STEPHEN KING: THE ART OF DARKNESS; a history of horror fiction and film, FACES OF FEAR; the best-selling anthology PRIME EVIL; and the critical biography CLIVE BARKER: THE DARK FANTASTIC.

A long-time member of the National Book Critics Circle, Mr. Winter has published articles and reviews in major metropolitan newspapers from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Cleveland Plain-Dealer to the Washington Post, and in magazines ranging from Harper’s Bazaar and Saturday Review to Twilight Zone and Video Watchdog. He has also served as an expert witness on violence in contemporary media.

Mr. Winter received the World Fantasy Award for his literary criticism and three International Horror Awards for his fiction (including his short novel “The Zombies of Madison County,” which is set in Granite City). His writing has been nominated for the World Mystery Award, the World Science Fiction Award, and the Bram Stoker Award.

Mr. Winter lives in Oakton, Virginia, with his wife, Lynne. They have three sons and a growing band of grandchildren. True to his belief in the power of words, he teaches and speaks frequently on writing to audiences as diverse as booksellers, writer’s organizations, book clubs, libraries, law firms, and the Central Intelligence Agency.

“Writing is like life,” he says. “People always want to know: What happens next?”