Attorney

Clark was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1979.^[7] She worked in private practice and as a public defender for the city of Los Angeles before she became a prosecutor in 1981.^[5][8] She worked as a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, California and was mentored by prosecutor Harvey Giss.^[9]

Clark is perhaps best remembered as the lead prosecutor in the 1995 trial of O. J. Simpson for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.^[10] Prior to the Simpson trial, Clark's highest-profile trial occurred in 1991 when she prosecuted Robert John Bardo for the murder of television star Rebecca Schaeffer.^[11][12][13] Clark said that the media attention that she received during the trial was "the hell of the trial," calling herself "famous in a way that was kind of terrifying."^[14] Clark was advised by a jury consultant to "talk softer, dress softer, wear pastels" in order to improve her image.^[14] She subsequently changed her hairstyle into a perm, and the Los Angeles Times described her as resembling "Sigourney Weaver, only more professional."^[15] The New York Times commented that "the transformation was not entirely seamless."

Commentator and author

Clark resigned from the district attorney's office after she lost the Simpson case. She and Teresa Carpenter wrote a book about the Simpson case, Without a Doubt, in a deal reported to be worth $4.2 million.^[8][16]

Since the Simpson trial, Clark has made numerous appearances on television, including as a special correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. She provided coverage of high-profile trials and reported from the red carpet at awards shows such as the Emmy Awards. She was a guest attorney on the short-lived television series Power of Attorney and was also featured on Headline News analyzing the Casey Anthony trial. In July 2013, Clark provided commentary for CNN during the Florida trial of George Zimmerman.^{[citation needed]}

Clark wrote a pilot script for a television series called Borderland, centering on "a very dark version of the DA's office." The series was purchased by FX but was never produced.^[8] Clark has contributed true-crime articles to The Daily Beast.^[17]

Clark has written several novels.^[18] Her "Rachel Knight" series centers on a prosecutor in the Los Angeles district attorney's office, and includes Guilt By Association (2011),^[19] Guilt By Degrees (2012),^[20] Killer Ambition (2013)^[21] and The Competition (2014).^[22] Guilt by Association was adapted as a television pilot for TNT in 2014.^[18][23][24]

Clark's "Samantha Brinkman" series features a female defense attorney. It includes Blood Defense (2016), Moral Defense (2016) and Snap Judgment (2017), and was planned as a television adaptation series for NBC that Clark would cowrite.^[18][24] Clark did not expect to become an author, saying, "As a lawyer, I came to understand early that storytelling plays a very important part when you address a jury. So I guess my instincts have always kind of been there when it comes to weaving a narrative."^[25] She read Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys mystery fiction as a child and said "I have been addicted to crime since I was born. I was making up crime stories when I was a 4 or 5-year-old kid."^[26]

Non-fiction

• Without a Doubt with Teresa Carpenter (1997). Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-670-87089-9

Rachel Knight series

• Guilt By Association (2011). Mulholland Books. ISBN 978-0-316-12951-0
• Guilt By Degrees (2012). Mulholland Books. ISBN 978-0-316-12953-4
• Killer Ambition (2013). Mulholland Books. ISBN 978-0-316-22094-1
• The Competition (2014). Mulholland Books. ISBN 978-0-316-22097-2
• If I'm Dead: A Rachel Knight Story (2012). Mulholland Books. Digital.
• Trouble in Paradise: A Rachel Knight Story (2013). Mulholland Books. Digital.

Samantha Brinkman series

• Blood Defense (2016). Thomas & Mercer. ISBN 978-1-503-93619-5
• Moral Defense (2016). Thomas & Mercer. ISBN 978-1-503-93977-6
• Snap Judgment (2017). Thomas & Mercer. ISBN 978-1-542-04599-5
• Final Judgment (2020). Thomas & Mercer. ISBN 978-1-542-09117-6