The Paper Chase (Osborn novel)

The Paper Chase is a 1971 novel written by John Jay Osborn Jr., a 1970 graduate of Harvard Law School. The book tells the story of Hart, a first-year law student at Harvard, and his experiences with Professor Charles Kingsfield, a brilliant and demanding contracts instructor whom he both idolizes and finds incredibly intimidating.

The novel inspired an eponymous 1973 film and then a television series, which ran from 1978 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1986.

Osborn wrote the novel as a third-year student at Harvard Law School. William Alfred, a Harvard humanities professor and playwright, coached him in writing the book.^[1]