BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JANUARY 29, 2001 ISSUE
COVER STORY The Paint-by-Numbers Lawsuit The Internet has revolutionized the business of taking Corporate America to court STEP ONE: FIND A VICTIM Traditionally, lawyers waited for customers to come to them. But that's not always the way it works these days. Lots of plaintiffs' law firms advertise for clients on television or lure them through national referral networks such as USinjurylawyer.com. STEP TWO: GET A LITIGATION PACKET How-to guides exist for suits against handgun makers, tobacco companies, and Warner-Lambert diabetes drug Rezulin, among other things. Generally costing less than $200, they include almost everything a lawyer needs to get a case started. STEP THREE: FIND AN EXPERT A credible physician or engineer can do wonders with a jury. Web sites such as DepoConnect.com specialize in helping tort lawyers find good expert witnesses. Professional experts also rent booths at attorneys' conventions and advertise in legal trade journals. STEP FOUR: GET MONEY Courts move slowly. That means that lawyers and their clients sometimes have a cash-flow crisis while they wait for that big verdict to come in. Litigation-finance specialists such as ExpertFunding.com offer immediate cash in exchange for a stake in litigation, but the cash advance comes at a high price. STEP FIVE: OBTAIN HOT DOCUMENTS Nothing makes a case like a smoking gun. Organizations such as the Attorneys Information Exchange Group in Birmingham, Ala., and ATLA Exchange serve as warehouses that help plaintiffs' attorneys get the internal corporate documents they need to win over a judge and jury. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS The Litigation Machine COVER IMAGE: The Litigation Machine TABLE: The Paint-by-Numbers Lawsuit TABLE: Tort Lawyers' Secret Weapon On the Prowl for Victims INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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