1. About Us
We are a group of successful entrepreneurs who start and manage mass tort law firms. We are not attorneys, and we share in legal fees using Rule 5.4(b) of the DC Bar Association Rules of Professional Conduct. We seek an attorney who is barred in DC. Your specialty does not matter, nor does it matter where you live, as long as you are barred in DC. We are not interested in attorneys who are not barred in DC and claim they can “just waive in,” as our research indicates that waiving in takes a lot more time than most people think.
2. Mass Torts
Mass torts are product liability claims against pharmaceutical, medical device, and toxic substances manufacturers. For most mass tort case types, a MDL has been established. Examples of past case types include TVM, Actos, Risperdal, Xarelto, Zofran, and Benicar cases.
When an MDL is created, the MDL judge appoints a Plaintiff Steering Committee (“PSC”), which does almost all of the legal work. The PSC takes about 1/8 of our fees through a Common Benefit Assessment (“CBA”) imposed upon all of the law firms participating in the MDL. Thus, we are only responsible for client origination and intake, obtaining the client’s signature on the engagement agreement and HIPAA authorization form, ordering medical records, medical record review, preparing a short-form complaint, preparing a Plaintiff Fact Sheet, participating in the settlement process established when the defendant is ready to settle, and client communication. (As noted in Section 8, most of such work is performed by a LPO firm, rather than by us.
3. Case Types We Are Interested In
Currently there are six case types we are interested in pursuing:
A. Sexual Abuse
Many sexual abuse cases are quite horrific e.g., young children being abused by adults who have some level of authority and control over them. In some cases, the defendant organization (who is legally responsible for the misconduct of their employees) is highly desirous of avoiding unfavorable publicity and sometimes a $1,000,000+ settlement can be reached fairly quickly. In cases requiring litigation, we would co-counsel with a powerhouse law firm with a track record of litigating these types of cases.
B. Roundup
Roundup was a herbicide manufactured by Monsanto, a company that was acquired by Bayer in 2018 for $63 billion. It was by far the most popular herbicide on the U.S. market, with over 75 percent market share. In 2023, Monsanto discontinued selling Roundup. The key ingredient of Roundup was glyphosate, a chemical that the International Agency of Research on Cancer has classified glyphosate as "possibly carcinogenic to humans." Specifically, individuals exposed to Roundup over several years run a significant risk of contracting non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
As of October 2023, Monsanto has reached an approximately $11 billion settlement with most plaintiffs, and approximately 80 percent of Roundup claims have been settled. Given the long latency period of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Roundup will be a viable case type for at least the next decade.
C. Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers, and unfortunately is in most cases fatal. In addition to mesothelioma, inhalation of such fibers can cause bronchitis, asbestosis, lung cancer, and cancers of the digestive tract (esophagus, stomach, intestines, and the rectum).
When mesothelioma lawsuits first started to be filed, the most obvious defendants were the large manufacturers of asbestos, such as Johns Manville Corp., Owens Corning Corp., and W.R. Grace & Co. The verdicts against these corporations became so large and frequent that these companies (and several dozen other companies) filed for bankruptcy protection. Pursuant to bankruptcy code section 524(g), these companies turned over most or all of their assets to a newly-created bankruptcy trust. Such trusts are administered by a court-appointed trustee whose job it is to write checks, assuming the claim is valid. Currently there are approximately 60 such trusts with total assets in excess $30 billion.
D. Hernia Mesh
A hernia is a medical condition that is caused by the penetration of fatty tissue, intestine, or organs through a weakened or compromised location in muscle or connective tissue. Hernias sometimes manifest as visibly observable protrusions or badges, and can cause pain, discomfort, and decreased mobility.
Hernias can be treated surgically, and hernia repairs are common surgeries. To strengthen the repair, surgeons sometimes introduce to the hernia site a surgical mesh, many types of which are intended to remain in the body permanently. Several complications are associated with the use of hernia mesh in hernia repairs, such as pain, infection, recurrence, adhesion, obstruction and perforation.
For hernia mesh cases, we focus exclusively on revision cases, cases where a second surgery was required to repair, modify or remove the mesh that was implanted in the first surgery. There are four active forums where different types of hernia mesh cases are centralized, and each of these manufacturers/defendants has their own settlement protocol. Hernia mesh cases can often be quite valuable.
E. Necrotizing Enterocolitis
NEC is caused when a preterm (born before 37 weeks of pregnancy) or low birth weight baby is fed infant formula based on cow’s milk (as opposed to mother’s breast milk, which is the “gold standard” for safety). NEC’s symptoms include blood in the stool, vomiting, lethargy, inability to maintain normal baby temperature, apnea, and low blood pressure. The two primary defendants are Mead Johnson (manufacturer in Enfamil) and Abbott Laboratories (manufacturer of Similac). The legal claims against them include defective design, failure to warn, negligence, and misleading marketing (such as “Human Milk Fortified,” which in fact no human milk is added). So far, there have been two trials, both in favor of the plaintiff, with verdicts of $60 million and $495 million. We expect settlement values to be high because juries are usually sympathetic to babies that need life-time medical care.
F. Elmiron
Elmiron, also known by its generic name pentosan polysulfate sodium, is manufactured by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Elmiron is prescribed to treat interstitial cystitis, a chronic condition characterized by bladder pain and discomfort. It is used to alleviate symptoms such as bladder inflammation and irritation.
Long-term use of Elmiron can cause severe vision problems, including vision loss and blindness. The primary concern is a condition known as pigmentary maculopathy, which is a degenerative eye disease that affects the retina. Patients have reported experiencing distorted vision, blurred vision, and difficulty seeing at night.
Numerous individual settlements ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 have already occurred, depending on the severity of the vision damage and other factors. Future settlements are expected to range from $200,000 to $1,000,000 per plaintiff.
4. Our Business Strategy
There are three elements to our business strategy:
1. “Come Late to the Party” – We focus on case types where the manufacturer has decided to settle.
2. Sign up a Diversified Portfolio of Case Types – We diversify the case types we sign up cases for.
3. Utilize a Vastly Superior Method of Generating Cases – Many MTLFs have lost money by choosing lead brokers who delivered bad leads. As noted in Section 9, we have several methods of determining up front if a case is valid, so we do not have this problem.
5. The Attraction of Mass Torts
We are attracted to the mass tort business for several reasons:
1. The business is quite lucrative. Done the conventional way – i.e., obtaining cases through traditional marketing channels – operating margins exceed 80 percent. With our AI and data mining techniques (see Section 6), our operating margins exceed 95 percent. (!)
2. Processing mass tort cases for settlement lends itself to systemization of processes and computerization, something we are quite good at.
3. After a prospect has signed a “Client Engagement Agreement,” we can turn the case over to a legal process outsourcing (“LPO”) firm which will process the case through settlement and collection and disbursement of funds. As noted in Section 8, such firms are willing to defer their fees until the case turns into money.
4. If we follow the three key business strategies listed in Section 7, the risk is exceptionally low relative to return.
5. We are doing good for society. Our clients are victims of multi-billion dollar corporation who have manufactured and marketed unsafe products. We play an integral part in obtaining compensation for their injuries.
8. LPO Firms
There are approximately 30 legal process outsourcing (“LPO”) firms which will process the case from “soup to nuts” i.e., once a client is signed up, they will perform all of the remaining tasks, through settlement and collection and disbursement of the settlement. These firms are willing to defer their fees until settlement funds are collected, which substantially improves our cash flow. Since they collect the settlement funds, the first payment they make is to themselves, for their deferred fees plus interest. Such firms include Archer Systems, Epic Systems, KCC, Torticity and Verus.
9. AI and Data Mining Techniques
We have discovered and developed proprietary, highly effective AI and data mining technologies to generate high value mass torts legal cases from various databases. Except for our captive law firms, MTLFs spend several thousands of dollars to obtain a valid case – e.g., Roundup cases cost approximately $5,250, and mesothelioma cases cost in excess of $100,000. (!) Many of the cases acquired are of low value, in that the bodily harm suffered by the injured party is insignificant. This leads to a low settlement, since settlement values are to a substantial extent ae based on the severity of the injury. We can focus solely on obtaining high value cases, such as permanent disability and wrongful death.
These data mining techniques have been used for more than 25 years for a completely different purpose, and thus we know the technology works. We are simply using these techniques for a different purpose, namely, to obtain mass tort clients. Our techniques comply with all federal and state medical data privacy laws, including HIPAA. There is no other company in the world that is able to generate on a consistent basis mass tort clients using any AI or data mining technology.
Our techniques allow us to reach prospects who will not respond to other marketing channels, such as television and Facebook ads. Anecdotal evidence for historical case types (which have been settled years ago and thus are no longer valid claims) indicate that six out of seven people who could file a claim (i.e., they meet all of the settlement criteria which were negotiated with the defendant/manufacturer) do not in fact do so. Our outbound telemarketing allows us to reach those 86 percent that will never respond to any advertising, no matter how many tens of millions of dollars in advertising are spent by MTLFs.
Here is an analogy we use. Imagine there are two bodies of water: a small pond and an ocean larger than the Pacific. In the pond there are hundreds of fishing boats (law firms looking for mass tort clients) and as a result, the pond is overfished (it’s difficult to find valid mass tort cases). As for the ocean, there is only one fishing boat (our law firm) and there are zillions of fish, each one of which can be caught at almost no cost.
Once the data are obtained and written to a Salesforce CRM system, we have several proprietary AI techniques to enhance the effectiveness of the data and to identify the most viable prospects.
Our AI / data mining company is called Paragon Analytics, LLC. We are using Paragon to raise money from accredited investors.
10. Our Management Team
Our management team includes individuals who have co-founded a successful mass tort law firm (“MTLF”); a data scientist who studied statistics and data mining as a graduate student at Harvard University; a medical coding professional with over 20 years of experience and four medical coding certifications; and an information technology professional who has spoken at national conferences and has co-authored two technical books published by Microsoft Press.
11. Our Founder / CEO
Our founder / CEO, James Mitchell, has over 18 years of mass tort experience. He entered the industry as a lead originator for MTLFs, and then he migrated to founding a law firm that originated cases and then co-counseled with such firms. He then co-founded a MTLF which processes its own cases.
Although he is not an attorney, James has a strong background in law. For several years he worked as a part-time paralegal for his father, a prominent attorney in Los Angeles. He received a better education from his great uncle, Donald R. Wright, who was Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court from 1970 to 1977. For exceptionally important cases – e.g., People v. Anderson, 6 Cal. 3d 628 that were being argued in Los Angeles, Wright’s secretary would send James the briefs and James would attend the hearing. Afterwards, Wright would review the transcript with James, engaging in Socratic dialog similar to what one sees in the movie The Paper Chase. Five years of this, combined with his father’s training, molded his brain a certain way permanent brain damage at a very young age.
James also has a strong background in statistics and data mining. As a graduate student at Harvard University, he took or audited several graduate level classes in statistics and data mining. You might think the graduate courses provided better training, but you would be wrong Like most academically prestigious universities, graduate level statistics courses are basically applied math courses, with little attention to real world data analysis, while the undergraduate courses paid much more attention on how to approach real problems. James received a better education by working as a Research Assistant in statistics for Professor Gary R. Orren, a brilliant statistician and methodologist.
James has over 52 years of information technology experience. In 1970, at age 15, he started programming computers, 11 years before the IBM PC was introduced. James was a Software Engineer for Digital Equipment Corporation, the leading minicomputer manufacturer before the IBM PC put these companies out of business. He was a Research Associate in computers and information systems at Harvard Business School, followed by 12 years of high-level IT consulting for major technology companies (Digital, Lotus Development, and Codex) and major commercial banks (Bank of Boston and Shawmut Bank).
At Harvard, in addition to studying statistics, James concentrated in international security and defense policy. For more information about James, see his LinkedIn profile.
12. Our Chief Technology Officer
Our CTO, Dan Stolts, is a nationally recognized IT executive with over 32 years of experience. He has spoken at AngelBeat as well as dozens of Microsoft national conferences, including TechReady, TechNet Events, and Ignite, as well as numerous Microsoft product launches.
In 1998 Dan founded and since then has served as President of Bay State Integrated Technology, Inc., a computer reseller, systems integration, and custom software development firm with approximately 10 employees. Bay State was incorporated in 2002, and starting in 2015, Bay State started doing business as JIT Solutions IT.
From 2008 to 2023, Dan was also Chief Technology Strategist for the Northeast region for Microsoft. For Fortune 100 companies, Dan was Microsoft’s public face and voice, generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Dan’s primary technical responsibilities were to manage and serve as technical lead for onboarding large enterprises onto Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.
For Windows Server, Dan was a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, Microsoft’s highest honor for outside experts. Dan has over 30 IT certifications, almost all of which are Microsoft certifications. Dan is co-author of Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions (Microsoft Press), and he was a technical reviewer of, and the author of four chapters in, Microsoft Public Cloud Services: Setting up Your Business in the Cloud (Microsoft Press).
In addition to his extensive system administration experience, Dan has managed more than 40 software development projects, almost all of which have been business information systems. His clients have included Accenture, Cigna, Fidelity Investments, The Hartford, Harvard University, Microsoft, MIT, NASDAQ, TJX, United Parcel Service, and Xerox. Key development tools have included Visual Studio, Azure DevOps, SQL Server, C#, HTML, JavaScript and PowerShell. For most of these projects, Dan used Agile and Scrum software development methodologies.
Dan has over 25 years of experience in developing Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”) systems, most often using Salesforce’s Sales Cloud SaaS package. Many years ago, Dan obtained two Salesforce certifications: Salesforce Certified Developer and Salesforce Certified Administrator.
Dan is the founder of the Boston Area Windows Server User Group and is a current or former Board member of two virtualization user groups in Boston. Dan has been a frequent speaker to dozens of Boston IT user groups.
13. Our Prior DC Attorneys
For the law firms we have formed, we have used three DC attorneys. The first was not very smart. The second was terrible about returning telephone calls and follow-up. The third (who I will call John) is smart, but he is difficult to reach and we usually have to send several texts and leave several voice mails to eventually reach him on the phone. We are looking for an attorney who has John’s strengths and at the same time is a lot easier to get ahold of.
14. Current DC Bar Membership is Essential
It’s essential that you are a member of the DC bar. In the past, some attorneys told me, “I can waive in.” Waiving in takes a lot longer than most people realize (typically about nine months). If you are not currently a member of the DC bar, this is the wrong opportunity for you. (If your status is inactive, that is fine as long as you can quickly restore your status to active.) It does not matter how long you have been practicing, you could have been admitted yesterday or you could have practiced for 40 years. Also, it does not matter where you live, as long as you are barred in DC.
15. U.S. District Court
Although there are state equivalents of MDLs, most of the mass tort cases we file are in federal court, so you will need to be admitted to some U.S. District Court in the country. In federal MDLs one of the first orders signed by the MDL judge is to permit attorneys outside that federal district to file cases in that MDL without being admitted pro hac vice, as long as such attorney is admitted to some U.S. District Court anywhere in the country. If you’re not currently a member of any U.S. District Court, we will need you to become a member.
For example, consider the MDL concerning NEC infant formula cases, where the defendants are Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson. That MDL is in the Northern District of Illinois, with Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer presiding. Assume you are admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Massachusetts. You (actually us, doing the work on your behalf, since you really don’t have to do much for this position) would fill out a form to seek login credentials for the CM/ECF system for the Northern District of Illinois.
1. If you are not currently admitted to any U.S. District Court, depending on the federal court, it can get a bit complicated. Each court has its own rules and there are a wide variety in approaches.
2. In order to be admitted to a federal trial court, you need to be barred in that state. For example, if you want to be admitted to the one of the four federal trial courts in Texas (Eastern, Northern, Western or Southern district), you need to be barred in Texas.
3. In all cases, your state bar membership must be active/current. It is not, you must first restore your state bar membership to good standing. Depending on the state, this could take a few days or a few months.
4. Most of the federal courts require that you have one attorney who will sponsor your admission to that federal court. That attorney needs to be a member of that federal court. For many courts, that attorney needs to sign under oath that he has known you for at least one year. A few courts require that you have two sponsors, while others do not require any sponsors.
5. Once your paperwork is approved, some district courts require that you appear in person to take your required oath. For most federal courts, the swear-in ceremonies are held once a month, so there is not a long wait.
Bottom line, if you are not currently a member of a U.S. District court, please investigate the requirements of your state before you write to us.
16. Responsiveness
We seek an attorney who is extremely responsive. At the absolute worst case, we need to be able to reach you that day. So, if you are in court for that day, or in meetings, I need to be able to send you a txt and you text back, “Let’s talk at 7 pm tonight.” If you visiting the planet Mars, you need to give me a phone number so I can reach you. We would be very interested in using Calendlyto be able to see your calendar (not your actual appointments, but simply when you are free and not free) and then know you are free at, say, 4 pm. we could then txt you that we will call you at 4 pm. If you’re not exceptionally responsive, then we might as well continue to use John, who is pretty much perfect in every way other than responsiveness. In the ideal world, you would have a secretary or receptionist who we could call and schedule a telephone appointment, but we realize that is a luxury and it is unlikely you have such resources at your disposal.
17. Computer Skills
You need to be reasonably competent in computers. A few examples of what we expect. After we first talk on the phone, if we want to go to the next step, we will create a Dropbox share for you, with all of the files nicely organized for you in various folders. If you’ve never used Dropbox before, that is a bad sign. If there is any chance that you will not be able to figure Dropbox out (i.e., we are going to have to spend 30 minutes walking you through Dropbox), we have better things to do with my time, you do not have the computer skills we need.
A second example – At a minimum, you should be able to print out an agreement we have emailed you, print it out, sign it, scan it to create a pdf, and then email us the pdf. If you don’t have a scanner, we are not a good fit. Ask yourself, “Among the lawyers I know, am I more computer-savvy than most of them?” If the answer is no, then it might not make sense to apply.
If you want full access to our client files in order to monitor how the cases are being handled, that would be fine; we can give you access to our client database and our file server. For all of our cases, every piece of paper is scanned and place on our file server. We have been told by lenders who have diligenced our client files that our files are better organized than any law firm they have examined.
18. What Else are We Looking For?
What else are we looking for? First, you need to be thoroughly versed in the ethics rules. Before we talk on the phone, you should have already done your research. Second, you should be congenial and easy going. Third, you obviously must be a member of the DC bar in good standing. Fourth, there should be no bar complaints filed against you that have not been dismissed. Fifth, as noted in Section 16, it’s essential that you be easy to communicate with—you answer your phone, you return phone calls in a timely fashion, you are easily reachable. Sixth, you should be decisive. Last time I looked for a DC attorney, one lawyer said he would make a decision within 30 days. Wrong guy.
19. Your Responsibilities
We would need about 50 hours a year of your time. It’s tempting to say that this number should be a lot lower, and it might very well be. But lenders might want to talk with you, or firms we am referring cases to might want you to sign a referral agreement with them. So, plan on 50 hours a year.
20. Your Compensation
For compensation, you would not receive a current salary. We are not looking for someone who needs immediate income, ideally you should have some minimum level of financial success at whatever else you are doing. Rather, you would receive a share of the new law firm’s revenues. (We base your compensation on revenues rather than profits to protect you profits can be manipulated but you really can’t manipulate revenues.) Your compensation would be the lower of 1 percent of revenues of our law firm’s revenues or $50,000 a year. Thus, if you receive $50,000 a year and you are working 50 hours a year working for us, you would be making about $1000 a hour.
We are looking for a long-term relationship – at a minimum, 10 years and ideally 20 or 30 years, over which you make one or two million dollars for doing very little work. Looking for a new DC attorney is a pain in the neck and we are hoping that you work out and we do not want to have to ever look again for another DC attorney. This is not a get rich scheme; it is a become financially successful over the long-term scheme.
Our partnership will be structured to comply with all of the DC Rules of Professional Conduct; we are not looking to cut corners in any way. We are serious about the law firms I manage doing excellent legal work. We think long-term and I am very concerned that my law firms have good reputations with the Court, defense counsel and other plaintiff contingency firms (many of which we are extremely friendly with) for doing excellent legal work. We are extremely courteous to opposing counsel and we do not “spin” facts the way some law firms do.
21. When You Respond
If you have writing samples, please send some. If you don’t, don’t worry, this is not a deal-breaker. If you need to preserve client confidentiality, please do not black out information, but rather just change in Microsoft Word whatever information needs to be disguised (e.g., client name, court, case number).
When you respond, please include the question numbers and the questions. Otherwise, it is more difficult for us to figure out which question you are answering.
22. Questions to Answer
If you are interested, please tell us:
1. Full name
2. Do you have a website?
3. If so, what is your URL?
4. Are you on LinkedIn? If so, what is your URL?
5. Where do you live?
6. Your email address
7. All of your telephone numbers
8. Which number should we call you on?
9. When is the best time to call you?
10. Do you understand our expectations about your being easy to reach and being responsive?
11. Are you able to meet those expectations?
12. Are you currently a member in good standing of the DC bar?
13. Have you researched the relevant DC canons of ethics?
14. Are you barred in any other state?
15. If so, which state(s)?
16. Are you admitted to any U.S. District Court?
17. If so, which ones?
18. If not, how quickly can you be admitted to a U.S. District Court?
19. If you are not a member of any federal trial court, have you researched if you will need a sponsor?
20. If you will need a sponsor, do you have one (i.e., someone who is already a member of that federal court and has known you for whatever length of time is required)?>
21. Has anyone ever filed a bar complaint against you in any state?
22. If so, please describe what happened and the outcome.
23. Have you ever been convicted of any crimes (misdemeanors or felonies)?
24. For how many years have you practiced law?
25. What are your legal specialties?
26. Do you understand there is no current income in this situation?
27. Tell us briefly about your financial circumstances (e.g., you are financially well off or you are living paycheck to paycheck).
28. How entrepreneurial are you?
29. From this project, you would make no more than $50,000 a year. Is that acceptable to you?
30. Tell us about your computer skills
31. Do you have a Dropbox account?
32. Do you have a scanner that can create PDFs?
33. Is there anything else we should know about you?
When you respond, please put “DC Attorney – I have read your ad carefully” in the subject line.
