“There has never been a lawyer quite like Fred Levin,” says Josh Young, the New York Times bestselling author of 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, Sept.). “He helped push large corporations to make sweeping safety changes that have benefited every single person in this country. Yet his self-absorbed and flamboyant actions and statements leave you wondering whether he’s a hero or a villain, a devoted seeker of justice or an ambulance chaser, a cockroach or a humanitarian.”

The son of a pawnbroker and dog track manager, Levin began practicing as a personal injury attorney in the days when those cases where handled by lawyers on the very lowest rungs of the profession. But Levin persevered, grew his law firm from a two-man operation in a small Southern swamp town into one of the largest and most successful mass torts firm in the country and helped turn civil litigation into a multibillion-dollar business. Levin’s most high-profile victory came in his landmark case against “Big Tobacco.” He orchestrated and says he helped secretly to push through a Florida law that led to the biggest legal settlement in U.S. history against the tobacco companies. He’s won more than 100 jury verdicts and settlements worth at least $1 million, been named top civil litigator by the National Law Journal, listed in every edition of Best Lawyers in America, and inducted into the Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. He’s also been investigated twice for murder and investigated by the Florida Bar on three occasions.

Not surprisingly, the book will have an equally larger than life marketing campaign. “The marketing and PR push behind this book is one of the biggest I have ever seen,” says Brian Feinblum, head of marketing for Media Connect. “I have been promoting authors for 25 years and this book is lined up for success—a fascinating subject, a five-time New York Times bestselling author, and a $250,000 marketing and PR campaign.” Media Connect’s eight-month campaign will include four satellite radio tours, a satellite TV tour, a national and local TV campaign, a national print campaign, and online media.