New Book Highlight One of America’s Most
Controversial – and Successful – Lawyers of the Past 50 Years!
Media
Connect has had the pleasure to work with all kinds of personalities, experts,
and celebrities over the past five-plus decades, but few rival the story of
Fred Levin.
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.
“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.”
Perhaps
W. Randal Jones, the founder of Worth
magazine sums Fred up best: “Fred Levin is truly sui generis and smart enough
to know what that means. When writing about Fred in The Richest Man in
Town, I didn't want to stop interviewing this mesmerizing character, but I
had 99 other American heroes that required my time. Now 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.”
Q and A with author Josh Young:
1.
What’s Fred’s
greatest or most prideful professional moment in a law career that spans more
than a half-century?
Undoubtedly, it was when Fred rewrote the Florida law that allowed the state to
sue Big Tobacco on behalf of Medicaid patients, and got his buddy, who was the
president of the Florida Senate, to ram it through unnoticed in the middle of
the night. This allowed the state of Florida to sue Big Tobacco to recover
Medicaid costs spent on behalf of smokers. Because the law that Levin wrote was
ultimately upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, Big Tobacco settled with Florida
for $13 billion – and soon settled with every other state, paying out some $206
billion. Prior to that case, Big Tobacco had never paid a nickel to its
victims. As a result of the settlement and the changes required in the
marketing of cigarettes, more than 100,000 American lives are saved every year.
2.
Fred almost
didn’t make it to law school. How did he overcome being such a poor student and
a party kid?
Fred was motivated to succeed in law school by his dean. On the first day, the
dean told the group “Look to your left and look to your
right. If your class is average, neither of those guys will be here when you
graduate.” Fred felt sick to his stomach. Because the school wasn’t that large,
Fred’s reputation had preceded him. Everyone in the room knew that he was a
goofball, a party boy, a gambler, and a lousy student. But the real push came
when the dean himself predicted Fred would never graduate. After Fred was in
law school for several weeks, he got a call that his younger brother Martin’s
health was quickly deteriorating. Martin had been fighting leukemia for months,
but he now appeared near the end. Fred told the dean that he needed to go home.
The dean pulled out his undergraduate file and told Fred, very coldly, “You
know, with your grades and everything, you might just as well stay home.” Fred
didn’t make it home before his brother died, but he did return to school. Fred
ended up graduating third in his class, beaten out only by two transfer
students.
3.
Are you
surprised at how the trial lawyer profession has evolved over the years? What
has Fred’s role been in that regard? Over the past four decades, trial
lawyers have increasingly become the main stalwarts causing safety changes that have benefited every single person in this
country, yet they are often vilified for the large amounts of money they have
made and their flamboyant lifestyle. Fred’s central role in changing the
direction of the national personal injury field was when he won an $18 million
verdict against L&N Railroad in 1980.
It was the largest verdict of its kind in legal history, and made
national news, landing Fred in the entertainment magazine US, which highlighted his $6 million fee. This got the attention of lawyers and
corporations all over America.
4.
Why does Fred’s
own son call him “a cockroach and a humanitarian?” A cockroach is
something despised, but despite all efforts to eliminate they continue to
thrive. Trial lawyers are disliked in large part as a result of the propaganda
by the insurance industry, politicians and the business world. There have been
endless efforts over the past several decades to destroy or eliminate the trial
lawyer, but they continue to thrive and get stronger by adapting to the
circumstances. The only difference between the trial lawyer and the cockroach
is that the trial lawyer efforts often serve humanity very well.
5.
Why has the
Florida Bar Association tried to disbar him three times? Largely because of his success and
the way he flaunted it. Over his career, Fred won 30 jury verdicts in excess of
$1 million, including one for $25 million and another for $50 million, and
settled more than 75 other cases in excess of $1 million. Fred also has openly,
and often, insulted the leaders of the bar by referring to them as elitist,
white, country club, men. It’s doubtful
that any of the three charges would have been brought with such vengeance
against any other lawyer. The first time he was brought up on charges was for
gambling on football games, and then going on his cable access channel BLAB-TV
and saying he saw nothing wrong with it – despite the fact that it was a
misdemeanor. The result was a slap on the wrist. The second time was for
violating the ethics rule on interjecting personal statements into a trial.
That stemmed from him calling his opponent’s case “ridiculous” in two different
trials. He was acquitted on that charge. And the third time was for him
lambasting a judge’s ruling. Again, he escaped.
6.
Fred seems to
enjoy the spotlight. He’s been photographed with Bill Clinton, U2’s Bono, Bob
Hope, Colin Powell, Muhammad Ali, Don King, Mikhail Gorbachev, and numerous
others. Is all this show business to him? Show business is the by-product
of being an effective lawyer, and also a means to promote himself and his firm
to lure clients.
7.
What role did
Fred’s faith, as well as his experiences with anti-Semitism, influence his
career?
Fred grew up and practiced in a part of the Southern Bible Belt at a time when
Jews were outsiders. Fred encountered anti-Semitism at every turn in his life,
from not being admitted to the cool college fraternity to not being allowed to
join the country club to not being able to join the established law firms. This
made him more sensitive to other minorities and actually led to him being an
open advocate for African Americans and homosexuals. He has been honored by the
United States Congressional Black Caucus, and made a chief of the country of
Ghana, for his efforts. In recent years, he has become a prominent
philanthropist for Jewish causes, most recently donating $1 million to the
Lubavitch/Chabad Student & Community Center at the University of Florida.
8.
Fred’s firm is
now involved in litigation against BP Oil for the massive oil spill in the Gulf
of Mexico a few years ago. Is he driven by the money, the fame, or a sense of
justice?
It’s a difficult question to answer.
Fred and his firm are dedicated to leveling the playing field in some
small way so that the little guy can do battle with the big guy. The lawyers in
his firm believe very strongly in what they do. Stepping back and looking at
what has happened in this country, it has become clear that the federal
government does less and less for the people. The agencies designed to help
people and to keep big business honest do not work properly. The FDA is not
able to keep up with the drug companies and has practically become their
functionary. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is overwhelmed. And all of
those agencies tasked with protecting the financial system have an abysmal
track record of late, which led to a catastrophic financial crisis in 2008. The
central problem is that these agencies are all beholden to big business. So
looking objectively at what has happened to individual rights in this country
in the last 20 years, it is clear that people need a voice, and a powerful one
at that. Fred’s firm tries to be that voice in cases where people need it, such
as the BP Oil Spill. On the other hand,
Fred loves the money and fame. He
thrives on it, flaunts it, and promotes it.
9.
Did Fred reveal
what his former partner, Johnnie Cochran, felt about O.J. Simpson’s innocence? Fred and
Johnnie Cochran were close friends. Fred
was with Johnnie at a boxing match in Miami when Johnnie saw O.J. for the first
time since the conclusion of O.J.’s murder trial. It had been six years, and
Johnnie told Fred that he had not spoken to O.J. since the trial. When Johnnie
spotted O.J., he asked Fred and his friend Terdema Ussery (the president of the
Dallas Mavericks) to shield him so O.J. wouldn’t see him. Fred’s take on the
whole situation is “that Johnnie thought O.J. was guilty, and even though his
successful defense was a cornerstone of his career, it was something that
troubled him.” Months later, Ussery was with Cochran when the subject of the
events at the fight came up. Ussery recounted that Cochran told him to ask him
anything he wanted about O.J. When Ussery demurred, Cochran then answered the
question that Ussery wouldn’t directly ask; of whether or not he believed O.J.
Simpson was guilty. Ussery recalled to me: “Johnnie said, ‘The answer to your
question is his character is going to eventually answer the question for those
who are curious as to whether or not he did it. So what I would say to you is
watch him. Eventually – because character is something that you cannot suppress
long term – your question is going to be answered if you just watch him.’” Of
course, in 2008, three years after Johnnie Cochran died, O.J. Simpson was
convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping in Las Vegas and sentenced to 33
years in prison.
10.
How did Fred get
into the business of managing a professional boxer, Roy Jones Jr.? It began when
Roy’s father came to Fred’s office unannounced and asked him if he would manage
Roy Jones, Jr., who was turning professional. Fred knew nothing about boxing,
but he certainly knew who Roy Jones, Jr. was. A Pensacola native, Jones had
made an international name for himself at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In the most
controversial gold medal bout in Olympic history, Jones had clearly beaten the
South Korean Park Si-Hun, landing 86 punches to Park’s 32. However, Park was given
a 3-2 decision. It was later revealed that the three judges who voted against
Jones had taken graft from the South Korean officials. Though this resulted in
their suspension, Jones was never awarded the gold medal he deserved. Fred was
hired seven months after Jones was robbed of the Olympic gold medal, and the
boxing world was itching to see Jones in the ring. Jones had been in the news
because he and his father had rejected signing with Sugar Ray Leonard and his
partner, Mike Trainer, despite the fact that Leonard had visited Jones in
Pensacola before the Olympics. Don King also wanted to handle Jones. Bob Arum
was the only major promoter not interested, calling the Jones team ingrates for
misleading Leonard and Trainer. Fred made very little money – relatively
speaking – by managing Roy, but he got millions of dollars of free press, which
was even better for him.
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014
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