Serving more clients and boosting your bottom line in the process are great reasons to get into mass torts. But mass tort lawsuits are complicated, expensive, and high risk. That’s why a business mindset is critical to your success. At every stage of the process, from strategic planning to maximizing your return to executing your plan, savvy business decisions are even more important than in a personal injury practice.
Budget for the long term
The first thing you need to do is build a budget with an eye on the distant future. All your resources are flowing out and you are playing a long game that may last five years or more. If you can bring millions to the table, you can engage in a full-time mass tort practice and become exceedingly rich in the process. On the other hand, if you’ve only got $100,000 to invest, you would be wise to play a limited role as you invest in your future.
Choose marketing vendors wisely
Let’s say you want to represent clients in an MDL that looks like it has excellent potential. You hire a marketing group to acquire a certain number of quality cases for you (let’s say 350). While you’re attending to other strategic planning concerns, you imagine your vendors are racking up plaintiffs in droves. What if they only send you 30 cases, crushing your budget?
The next time you need to hire a marketing vendor, remember to seek wise counsel. There are some highly experienced attorneys in the mass tort niche and their recommendations are invaluable.
Use Compensable Case™ strategy
When it comes to best-practice case strategy, making sure your litigation department is signing Compensable Cases™ should be at the top of the priority list for you, followed closely by managing client communications and using robust case management software to effectively track and evaluate data.
The matrix for Compensable Cases includes obvious factors like confirming use of the specific product in question, the duration of use, the alleged injuries, and statute of limitations issues.
Sure, a litigator could come in and assess the value of the leads. But that would be a waste of litigation warrior talent, and not the best allocation of valuable resources. This process is especially important to the solo practitioner or small firm that has undertaken to operate in the mass tort space. A big firm that has been doing mass tort cases for years and made millions of dollars can afford to make mistakes and take a few bad cases, but most of us cannot. Using Compensable Case theory will set you up for a win.
The Mass Tort Institute is a consortium of industry leaders dedicated to providing education, training, and networking opportunities for those advocating on behalf of mass tort victims.
