Biography - Roger Samuel Wolfson, J.D., M.A. (Photos Below)

Roger Wolfson has risen to positions of prominence in the fields of entertainment, politics, news, and law. He is a professional television and film writer who currently serves as a writer/producer for the USA TV Series "Fairly Legal." He has previously written for “Century City,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “Saving Grace,” and “The Closer,” where one of his episodes earned Kyra Sedgwick an Emmy Nomination. He has sold four original television series of his own - two to Sony Studios, one to CBS/Paramount, and one to ABC Studios. Prior to writing full time, he worked for four U.S. Senators, wrote speeches for presidential candidates, served as Vice President for one of the largest TV news organizations in the country, founded his own strategic consulting firm, and worked as an attorney.

Wolfson arrived in Los Angeles in January of 2003, and became represented by CAA in April. By July he was a staff writer on Ed Zuckerman and Paul Attanasio's CBS series, "Century City." Wolfson's episode, "To Know Her," became the first episode aired after the pilot. But by that time Wolfson had already been hired by “Law and Order: SVU." While writing for SVU, Wolfson traveled across Ohio as a surrogate speaker for Senator John Kerry's Presidential campaign. Wolfson next wrote for "The Closer,” and his episode “Fantasy Date” garnered Kyra Sedgewick her first Emmy Nomination. He would go on to write for “Saving Grace,” the TNT series starring Holly Hunter, for two years, and he is now a writer and producer for USA’s “Fairly Legal,” starring Sarah Shahi.

As a series creator in his own right, Wolfson sold his first original TV series pilot to Sony Studios, “Shanghaied,” with Neal Moritz attached to produce in 2006. In 2008, Sony bought his second original pilot, “Zoo Law,” also with Moritz attached. Wolfson sold his TV series “Mind Games,” to CBS and Paramount Studios in 2010 with Apostle Entertainment (“Rescue Me”) attached to produce. In 2011, Wolfson sold his series “Grounded” to ABC Studios, with Ed Bernero (“Criminal Minds”) attached to produce. He is currently developing that project.

Wolfson has also partnered with Academy-Award winning producer Bruce Cohen (“American Beauty”) and Academy-Award nominated songwriter Bird York (“Crash”) to create campaign ads in Ohio.

Wolfson’s political experience began shortly after law school, when he began working for Senator Joe Lieberman’s Governmental Affairs Subcommittee. One year later, John Kerry made Wolfson the youngest Legislative Assistant he had ever hired, and his first official speechwriter.

For Kerry, Wolfson wrote or helped write dozens of speeches, plus the first bill in Congress to outlaw cop-killer bullets, several amendments to the Health Care Reform Act and even more extensive amendments to the Welfare Reform Act, including the Senate-passed "Kerry Parental Involvement Act" and "Kerry Expanded School Day Act." Wolfson also wrote Kerry's amendments to the Rescissions Bill that successfully restored $14 million for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services and $100 million for the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program. Wolfson was also in charge of Kerry's successful efforts to win $90 million of funding for Youthbuild.

Wolfson moved on to be a legislative assistant for Senator Paul Wellstone, and was soon elevated to the post of Chief Education Counsel for Wellstone’s Labor Subcommittee. This meant that Wolfson became joint staff for Wellstone and Ted Kennedy, because Labor Committee staff were on Kennedy’s payroll.

During the four years Wolfson held this post, he worked on the reauthorization of virtually every major Federal education law - from the $5 billion Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to the $12 billion Workforce Investment Act. During consideration of the $52 billion Higher Education Act alone, Wolfson produced thirteen major amendments to the law. Wolfson also wrote the most extensive child-care bill ever introduced in Congress.

By the time Wolfson left the Senate, at the age of 32, he was one of the only staffers ever to have worked full-time for the most prominent Liberal, Moderate, and Conservative members of the Democratic Party. He has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, and AirAmerica, and has lectured to forty different major organizations, bar associations, unions, and think tanks. He has been a judge and awards presenter for many different events, including the annual “Voice Awards” held at Paramount Studios.

During the 2006 Writers Guild elections, Wolfson was a chief strategist for the “Writers United” slate of candidates for Board, and subsequently was drafted to help run the media operations for the Guild during the 2007-8 Strike.

Wolfson has worked for four law firms, including Littler, Mendelson, the largest labor law firm in the world, and Lieberman, Segalof, and Wolfson, the firm his mother and Senator Lieberman founded. He has also served as Vice President of Channel One News, a TV news program watched by one third of all American teenagers every school day. He is currently a blogger for the Huffington Post.

Wolfson earned his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the Associate Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Comparative Labor Law Journal, his Masters in Writing from Johns Hopkins, and his Bachelors in Theater from Vassar, with highest academic honors. He is a member of the bars of New York, Connecticut, Washington, DC, and the U.S. Supreme Court, having been presented to the Chief Justice by Senators Jim Jeffords and Jeff Bingaman.

Until late 2011, Wolfson lived in Marina del Rey aboard the '42 sailing catamaran, Kinship II, which he helped sail from Manhattan to Los Angeles in 2003. As of September, he finally moved on land, to a home in Los Angeles that overlooks Silver Lake.