Jody Weiner, writer and attorney, authored the acclaimed literary suspense novel Prisoners of Truth (2004, paperback ed 2006), co-authored Kinship With Animals (2006), an anthology of true interspecies encounters from well-known animal activists, scientists and other professionals, co-edited Resistance A Radical Political and Social History of the Lower East Side by Clayton Patterson (2007, Seven Stories Press), and co-managed publication of Vali Myers-A Memoir by Gianni Menichetti (2007, The Golda Foundation); associate producer of feature film Mama’s Boy (2003nr), advisor and legal counsel for the documentary A Conversation with Koko (1999), advisor to the feature film Loveless in Los Angeles (2006) and writer/director of the animated music video Lost My Mind Again (2004). 

Weiner graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison (B.A. Sociology), and from DePaul University College of Law, Chicago, Illinois (JD). After eleven years defending criminal cases in state and federal courts, Weiner settled in San Francisco, CA to begin writing career and practice civil law. His clients have ranged from an inventor of the MRI machine to a death row inmate, from an NBA All-Star to Koko the signing gorilla. He has also served as corporate counsel for Skyy Spirits, LLC, has advised the Artist’s Guild of San Francisco, the Gorilla Foundation, and is a Director of the Golda Foundation (goldafoundation.org), a non-profit corporation supporting artists. Weiner’s biography appears in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law and Wikipedia. He is a member of the California Bar, the Illinois Bar, the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal, the District Courts of Northern Illinois and Northern California and the California Writers Club Berkeley Branch. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, oil and mixed media painter,Nancy Calef.