I have drawn upon my years as a public defender for many of my ideas.  Criminal law is a lot more exciting than some of the business disputes that I have handled during my career.  So, I have used fragments from some old cases as beginning ideas for my storyline in Contempt of Court.   I suppose I have always wanted to write a novel and Contempt of Court is the result of a couple of years of thinking and writing and revising and editing, etc.  During the whole process, I have learned more about how to write than I ever imagined.   I have been practicing law in Sacramento for more than 40 years.  I was a public defender for 12 years and a business litigator for 28 years.  Recently, I have become a full-time mediator and arbitrator, focusing on civil business disputes.