A great starting point is always Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_edwards

He wrote a book about 4 of his biggest trials:
http://www.amazon.com/Four-Trials-John-Edw...

Here is an excellent article from 2001 on his career:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/...

No we he was not an "ambulance chaser":

"By sheer virtue of his skill as a lawyer, Edwards had been able to avoid taking the kinds of cases the public detests. During the campaign, opponents tried unsuccessfully to criticize him for turning away 35 to 40 cases for each one he accepted. But such was the demand for his service that it was impossible to accommodate everyone. Even so, a close friend and fellow attorney says that, before running for Senate, Edwards had a team of doctors and nurses privately screen his record to make sure that no case he'd brought to trial could be considered frivolous: "When they got significantly into , they decided he'd never come close to violating the standard.""

Here is a website devoted to Edwards biggest case involving the little girl who had half of her intestines sucked out by a swimming pool drain:
http://www.monkeytime.org/lakey.html

One more:
http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2004/07/...

Let me also remind you that George Bush made Tort Reform a priority when he was Governor of Texas and Corporations hate getting sued.

I have been seeing more and more of the GOP smear tactic of calling Edwards an "Ambulance Chaser" and I find it insulting to see such ignorance on DU.