Lincoln W. Caplan, II (born 1950) is an American author, scholar, and journalist. He is the Truman Capote Visiting Lecturer in Law and a Senior Research Scholar in Law at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a 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.S. News & Worl ...

Early life and education

Caplan was born in 1950 in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, where he graduated ''cum laude'' in 1968. He then attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1972, after which he attended Emmanuel College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

for one year. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1976.

Career

Caplan began his career in journalism as an intern for ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'' after his first year of law school. His first piece covered the oral argument in ''

United States v. Nixon ''United States v. Nixon'', 418 U.S. 683 (1974), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case that resulted in a unanimous decision against President ...

''. He began writing for ''

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 ...

'' in 1978, and worked on the newspaper for several decades as a member of the editorial board. From 1998 to 2006 he worked on the faculty of

, where he found and headed the ''

Legal Affairs ''Legal Affairs'' was an American legal magazine that was launched under the auspices of Yale Law School, and which later became an independent non-profit venture with an educational mission. As the first general-interest legal magazine, ''Legal A ...

'' magazine in 2002. From July 2006 to July 2010, he served as a managing partner of Seachange Capital Partners. He has worked as a clerk for the chief justice of the

Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in Hartford, ac ...

, a management consultant for the

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three largest management consulting firms by re ...

, and a

White House Fellow The White House Fellows program is a federal fellowship program established via Executive Order by President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson in October 1964, based upon a suggestion from John W. Gardner, then the president of Carnegie Corp ...

. He was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1989 for the study of general nonfiction. He has also taught at the University of Virginia School of Law. Caplan has authored six books on legal topics. His book, ''The Insanity Defense and the Trial of John W. Hinckley, Jr.'', was awarded a

Silver Gavel Award The Silver Gavel Award (also known as the ABA Silver Gavel Awards for Media and The Arts) is an annual award the American Bar Association gives to honor outstanding work by those who help improve comprehension of jurisprudence in the United State ...

by the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

Personal life

Lincoln Caplan married Susan L. Carney, a judge for

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...

. Their daughter, Molly, was born in 1988.

Bibliography

* ''The Insanity Defense and the Trial of John W. Hinckley, Jr.'' (1984) * ''The Tenth Justice: The Solicitor General and the Rule of Law'' (1987) * ''An Open Adoption'' (1990) * ''Skadden: Power, Money, and the Rise of a Legal Empire'' (1993) * ''Up Against the Law: Affirmative Action and the Supreme Court'' (1997) * ''American Justice 2016: The Political Supreme Court'' (2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caplan, Lincoln Harvard Law School alumni Phillips Exeter Academy alumni White House Fellows Yale Law School faculty Journalists from Connecticut 1950 births Living people