Steven Brill (born August 22, 1950) is an American lawyer, journalist, and
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
who founded monthly magazine ''
The American Lawyer
''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.[Court TV
Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...]
. He is the author of the best-selling book, ''Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America's Fifty-Year Fall – and Those Fighting to Reverse It.''
Early life and education
Brill was born to a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family in
Far Rockaway, Queens
Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line ...
, New York.
[Steinbach, Alice,]
"Steven Brill plans to bring the O.J. Simpson trial to the small screen COURTING TV"
The Baltimore Sun, September 25, 1994 He is a graduate of
Deerfield Academy
Deerfield Academy is an elite coeducational preparatory school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schools in the United States. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association, the Ten Schools Admissi ...
,
Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
(B.A., 1972), and
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...
(J.D., 1975).
[Palm eBook Store: Author: Steven Brill]
Projects
In October 1978, Brill published his first book, ''The Teamsters''.
In 1979, Brill launched ''
The American Lawyer
''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.[Jill Abramson
Jill Ellen Abramson (born March 19, 1954) is an American author, journalist, and academic. She is best known as the former executive editor of ''The New York Times''; Abramson held that position from September 2011 to May 2014. She was the first ...]
and
Jim Cramer
James Joseph Cramer (born February 10, 1955) is an American television personality and author. He is the host of ''Mad Money'' on CNBC and an anchor on ''Squawk on the Street''. A former hedge fund manager, founder, and senior partner of Cramer ...
were among its early contributors. The magazine is noted for its surveys, including the "
Am Law 100", an annual ranking of the top 100 U.S. law firms, which it launched in 1986. The magazine covered the meteoric rise and precipitous collapse of the law firm of
Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey
Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey, also known as Finley, Kumble, was a United States law firm founded in 1968. The firm, based in New York, had grown from eight lawyers at its inception to over 700 lawyers at the ...
, in its September 1987 cover story, "Bye, Bye, Finley, Kumble", written by Brill.
In 1989, Brill founded
Court TV
Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...
(now
TruTV
TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows.
The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that focu ...
), launching the network on July 1, 1991. Among its original anchors were Fred Graham, who was still at the network twenty years later;
Cynthia McFadden
Cynthia McFadden (born May 27, 1956) is an American television journalist who is currently the senior legal and investigative correspondent for NBC News. She was an anchor and correspondent for ABC News who co-anchored '' Nightline'', and occasio ...
; and
Terry Moran
Terry Moran is an American journalist, currently Senior National Correspondent at ABC News. Based in Washington, D.C., Moran covers national politics and policy, reporting from the Trump White House, the Supreme Court, and the campaign trail fo ...
, who later joined ABC News. The network was born out of two competing projects to launch cable channels with live courtroom proceedings, the American Trial Network from
TimeWarner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by S ...
and
American Lawyer Media
ALM (formerly American Lawyer Media) is a media company headquartered in the Socony–Mobil Building in New York City, and is a provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal, insurance, and commercial real ...
and In Court from
Cablevision
Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
and
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
. Both projects were combined and presented at the
National Cable Television Association
NCTA – The Internet & Television Association (formerly the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and commonly known as the NCTA) is the principal trade association for the U.S. broadband and pay television industries. It represents ...
, in June 1990. Liberty Media joined the venture, in 1991. Court TV featured continuous live trial coverage, with analysis by anchors. The network's profile was raised during the
Menendez brothers
Joseph Lyle Menendez (born January 10, 1968) and Erik Galen Menendez (born November 27, 1970) are American brothers who were convicted in 1996 for the murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise ("Kitty") Menéndez.
During the trial, the Me ...
' first trial and, later, the
O. J. Simpson murder trial.
In 1997, Brill resigned from the network.
In June 1998, Brill launched ''Brill's Content'', a media
watchdog
Watchdog or watch dog may refer to:
Animals
*Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence
* Portuguese Watch Dog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed
* Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet ...
publication that ceased publication in fall 2001 (The Write News, Vol. 1, no. 1 (Aug. 1998)-v. 4, no. 6 (Fall 2001). The magazine caused a stir in its very first issue with Brill's article titled "Pressgate" charging that independent counsel
Ken Starr and his office had been the source of much of the information for reporters regarding the grand jury proceedings about the
Lewinsky scandal
Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist and writer. President Bill Clinton admitted to having an affair with Lewinsky while she worked at the White House as an intern in 1995 and 1996. The affair, and its repercus ...
and that as a result Starr may have violated federal law or ethical and prosecutorial guidelines.
The publication became less associated with Brill after its founding. In July 2000, Brill launched Contentville, a site that sold books, magazine articles, and other content; the site closed in September 2001. ''Brill's Content'' suspended publication in October 2001, after dissolving its partnership with
Primedia
Primedia is a South African media group, headquartered in Sandton, Johannesburg.
History
Primedia was established in 1994 and its listing on the JSE Securities Exchange was completed in April 1995. Primedia remained listed on the JSE until 1 ...
.
In 2001 Brill began teaching an advanced journalism course at Yale. In November 2001 Brill signed on as a contributing editor for ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
''.
In April 2003, ''After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era'' was published. In October 2003, the America Prepared Campaign was launched. In the fall of 2003, Brill founded the company Clear, a
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of Verified Identity Pass, Inc. It allowed travelers to get through
airport security
Airport security includes the techniques and methods used in an attempt to protect passengers, staff, aircraft, and airport property from malicious harm, crime, terrorism, and other threats.
Aviation security is a combination of measures and hum ...
quickly with an annual subscription to the program and
pre-screening. Brill left the company in March 2009; it went out of business at 11 p.m. PDT on June 22, 2009.
In 2009, Brill, former Wall Street Journal executive Gordon Crovitz, and ex-cable television industry mogul Leo Hindery founded ''Journalism Online'' to help newspapers and magazines charge for online access. The company was sold to
RR Donnelley
R.R. Donnelley is an American Fortune 500 integrated communications company that provides marketing and business communications, commercial printing, and related services. Its corporate headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois, United State ...
for a reported $45 million in March 2011. However, Donnelley's subsequent 10-K filing reported the price at closing was $19.6 million with the possibility of an additional payment to co-CEOs Brill and Crovitz (who both stayed with the company after the sale to Donnelley) of $15.3 million contingent upon meeting certain sales targets. As of March 2013, more than 400 newspapers, magazines and online-only websites used ''JOs Press+ service to charge for digital content.
In August 2011, Brill published ''Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America's Schools''. It described the success of charter schools, using the
Success Academy Charter Schools
Success Academy Charter Schools, originally Harlem Success Academy, is a charter school operator in New York City. Eva Moskowitz, a former city council member for the Upper East Side, is its founder and CEO. It has 47 schools in the New York ar ...
(then known as Harlem Success Academy) as an example, and profiled teacher Jessica Reid as a model of what could be done without union restrictions. He claimed that unions, particularly the
United Federation of Teachers
The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is the labor union that represents most teachers in New York City public schools. , there were about 118,000 in-service teachers and 17,000 paraprofessional educators in the union, as well as about 54,000 ...
and UFT president
Randi Weingarten
Randi Weingarten (born December 18, 1957)''Who's Who in America'', 2007. is an American labor leader, attorney, and educator. She is president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and a member of the AFL–CIO. She is the former presiden ...
in New York City, protected incompetent teachers, and were opposed to pay-for-performance, and obstructed necessary reforms,
[Nocera, Joe, ''Teaching With the Enemy'', in ''The New York Times'', Nov. 7, 2011](_blank)
a claim he had previously made in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''. By the time Brill came to the end of the book, Reid had quit. The long hours and stress of her job, with nightly calls to parents, and constant prodding of students, were affecting her marriage.
Brill went on to write that charters, which he continued to support, were not practically scalable to be a replacement for the current public education system, and that broader improvements would require the efforts of current public school teachers and their unions.
He said that after two years of researching school reform, he had a better understanding of the complexities. He reversed his view of Weingarten, and proposed that New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...
appoint her chancellor of the school system.
In February 2013, Brill wrote ''Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us'' as a ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine cover story.
The investigation of billing practices revealed that hospitals and their executives are
gaming the system
Gaming the system (also rigging, abusing, cheating, milking, playing, working, or breaking the system, or gaming or bending the rules) can be defined as using the rules and procedures meant to protect a system to, instead, Psychological manipula ...
to maximize revenue. Brill claims patients receive bills that have little relationship to the care provided and that the free market in American medicine is a myth, with or without Obamacare. The 24,000-plus word article took up the entire feature section of the magazine, the first time in its history. ''TIMEs managing editor, Rick Stengel, wrote: Brill later expanded the article into a book, ''America's Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System'', released January 5, 2015, that attained
The New York Times Best Seller list
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
.
On September 15, 2015,
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
Highline published Brill's 15-part serial documentary, "America's Most Admired Law Breaker," examining
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...
's 20-year practice of illegally marketing a powerful drug,
Risperdal
Risperidone, sold under the brand name Risperdal among others, is an atypical antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is taken either by mouth or by injection (subcutaneous or intramuscular). The injectable versions ...
, to children and the elderly, while concealing the side effects and earning billions of dollars in profit.
In March 2018, Brill and fellow veteran journalist and entrepreneur, Gordon Crovitz, again partnered to form a new company, ''
NewsGuard
NewsGuard is a journalism and technology tool that rates the credibility of news and information websites and tracks online misinformation. It operates a browser extension and mobile apps for consumers as well as services for businesses, includ ...
'', which fights fake news by providing reliability ratings for over 7,500 U.S. websites to help online readers distinguish between legitimate news sources and those allegedly designed to spread misinformation. NewsGuard was launched on August 23, 2018.
Brill's 2018 book, ''Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America's Fifty-Year Fall – and Those Fighting to Reverse It'' (May 2018, Knopf),
details America's decline across a broad range of areas, including government, finance, education, infrastructure, and public health, and introduces us to those who are working to repair the damage. ''Tailspin'' was included on
The New York Times Best Seller list
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
six days after its release,
and regarding which renowned ''Washington Post'' journalist Bob Woodward wrote:
Personal life
Brill is married and has three children. He resides in New York City and
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
, New York.
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Bibliography
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brill, Steven
1950 births
Living people
American magazine founders
Deerfield Academy alumni
American legal writers
Jewish American attorneys
People from Far Rockaway, Queens
Yale Law School alumni
Yale College alumni
Yale University faculty
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American political writers
Writers from New York (state)
20th-century American male writers
American male non-fiction writers
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American Jews