MARCIA CLARK

I didn't understand why people cared about my hair or my makeup or my clothing. It was like, 'I'm a prosecutor. I'm not a model. I'm not an actress.'

I actually was a defense attorney first.

After the verdict was read in the Simpson case, as the jury was leaving, one of them, I was later told, said, 'We think he probably did it. We just didn't think they proved it beyond a reasonable doubt.'

It's one thing to evaluate a woman's work. it's another thing to say, 'Your hair was this; your makeup was that.'

As a lawyer, particularly in criminal law, you really do have to try to tell your story to the jury and hope that the judge makes rulings that allows your story to get through.

As I listened to the verdicts in the Casey Anthony case, acquitting her of the homicide of her baby girl, I relived what I felt back when court clerk Deirdre Robertson read the verdicts in the Simpson case. But this case is different. The verdict is far more shocking. Why? Because Casey Anthony was no celebrity.

I am devoted to my two children, who are far and away more important to me than anything.

Jury instructions are so numerous and complex, it's a wonder jurors ever wade through them. And so it should come as no surprise that they can sometimes get stuck along the way. The instruction on circumstantial evidence is confusing even to lawyers. And reasonable doubt? That's the hardest, most elusive one of all.

I'm a big supporter of women doing anything they want to do!

I have always thought of myself as someone for equal rights. I don't mind being called a feminist, and I get really upset when female celebrities resist the title as if it's a bad thing, because it's a very good thing.

You never know what's going to happen when somebody endeavors to do a true crime story. It can be horribly misleading.

When you're writing fiction, you're in every character 'cause you can't help it.

When I went to the prosecutor's office, I wanted to be one of the good guys that the defense could trust. I'd try fair, clean cases, pull no punches, no below-the-belt stuff. Honorable. Because that's the kind of prosecutor I wanted to deal with.

Too frequently, we see women being pitted against each other.

I like cable stuff; I really do - 'American Horror Story,' 'American Crime Story.'

That's who I was: a prosecutor. I really loved it.

Most people don't go back to trial work after being in management, but I couldn't do anything else.

When I first joined the DA's office, there weren't that many women. So there was a fair degree of sexism. Everybody kind of got over it when they saw you doing your job.

The only thing the defense has to do is take care of the client and see to it that they attack every weak spot on the prosecution's case. It's up to the judge to make sure that they don't pull any fast ones.

Sarah Paulson is mind-blowing. I mean, she always is. She's always fantastic.

It's gratifying when younger women come up and say, 'I went to law school because of you.' My heart swells; then it's like, wait, are you glad, or do you blame me?

I kind of like to write fast. It keeps the pacing up. And it keeps me off the streets.

By no means did my first book sell. I took a few runs at it. You'll never see those early efforts 'cause they're burned, straight to the fireplace where they belong.

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.

The minute you step into a job where you have to be at all tough and assertive, that's when the mischief happens. And you're not allowed to be assertive and feminine.