New Book Highlights America's Most Controversial - and Successful - Lawyer

PENSACOLA, Fla., Sept. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Fred Levin, whose illustrious and controversial career as a pioneering personal injury lawyer is highlighted by his role in bringing down Big Tobacco in the largest legal settlement ever, seemed the least likely to succeed in a law career that has netted him hundreds of millions of dollars, and has made him one of the most loved and hated lawyers in America. He is a founding member of the Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame.

In the new book And Give Up Showbiz? How Fred Levin Beat Big Tobacco, Avoided Two Murder Prosecutions, Became a Chief of Ghana, Earned Boxing Manager of the Year, and Transformed American Law (BenBella Books, September 2014), five-time New York Times bestselling author Josh Young provides a detailed and insightful portrait of one of the nation's most successful and contentious civil trial lawyers. Young examines the unorthodox career path and life of a lawyer who was dogged by two murder investigations, three attempts to disbar him, a successful excursion into professional boxing management, a dysfunctional family life, and oh, yes, a legal career that included civil rights activism and huge lawsuit victories and settlements that saved lives and reformed the tobacco, drug, and auto industries.

In his new book, Josh Young shows us why this small-town lawyer has been making headlines for the past five decades.  Levin's career highlights include:

• Orchestrated and helped to secretively push through a Florida law that led to the biggest legal settlement in the history of the country against Big Tobacco – which ended paying out $206 billion – and earned his firm $300 million in legal fees.

• Honored by the United States Congressional Black Caucus for his civil rights efforts, and made a chief of the country of Ghana.

• At one time, Fred held the record for most money awarded for the wrongful death of a housewife, the wrongful death of a wage earner, the wrongful death of a child, the wrongful death of an African American, and the highest personal injury verdict in Florida.

• Won over 100 jury verdicts and settlements worth at least one million-dollars, and been named top civil litigator by National Law Journal  and listed in every edition of Best Lawyers in America.

Worth Magazine Founder W. Randall Jones quipped: "I am jealous that Josh Young got to bring this brilliant and fascinating figure fully to life in all his well-deserved glory in And Give Up Showbiz?  Read it and reap." 

"There has never been a lawyer quite like Fred Levin," says Young, who has written for Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, and the New York Times.  "One of the most successful and influential lawyers over the last 100 years, Fred was at the forefront of establishing personal injury law in the US and helping push large corporations to make sweeping safety changes that have benefited every single person in this country.  Yet at the same time his self-absorbed and flamboyant actions and statements leave you wondering whether he is a hero or a villain, a devoted seeker of justice or an ambulance chaser, a cockroach or a humanitarian.  Either way, he clearly has had a transformative impact on the American legal system."

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SOURCE Josh Young