Atticus Finch is a fictional character in Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". Atticus is a lawyer and resident of the fictional Maycomb County, Alabama. He represents the African-American man Tom Robinson in his trial where he is charged with the rape of Mayella Ewell. Lee based the character on her father, an Alabama lawyer who, like Atticus, represented black defendants in a highly publicized criminal trial. Book magazine's list of The 100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900 names Finch as the seventh best fictional character of 20th-century literature.

Source: Wikipedia