Mass tort marketing that counts cases, not sign-ups.

How people look for a mass tort lawyer now

A car crash has a date and a reason to call someone today. A mass tort usually starts elsewhere: a news story, a TV ad, a doctor asking about a medication, a relative who heard about a settlement. The person may have used the product years ago and been diagnosed long after.

So the first questions are about the case, not the lawyer: "Is there a lawsuit for this drug?" "Do I qualify if I stopped taking it in 2019?" "Is it too late to join?" People type those into Google, and now into ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews, which answer in a paragraph and can name a few firms. Often the person asking is a son, daughter or spouse researching for someone who is sick.

Interest follows the docket. It rises when a recall, an FDA warning, a big verdict or a new MDL makes the news. Federal product cases are often grouped under 28 U.S.C. § 1407, which sends cases from across the country to one judge for pretrial proceedings, and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation publishes the list of pending MDLs. Plan campaigns around that calendar.

Which channels fit mass tort cases

Mass tort advertising has long meant TV and bought leads. Here's how the channels compare.

Bookedly doesn't buy TV or sell leads. We run the first four, in that order, under your firm's name. For the wider picture, see law firm marketing.

Mass tort intake: where most of the cost hides

In a car case, intake asks what happened. In a mass tort, intake checks a list, and a sign-up isn't a case until the records back it up.

• Proof of use: pharmacy records for a drug, the operative report for an implant, use history for a product, residence or service records for an exposure.
• A qualifying diagnosis: the injury the litigation covers, confirmed in medical records.
• Timing: when they used it, when they were diagnosed, and whether their state's deadline has passed.
• Records retrieval: authorizations, requests and follow-up, often weeks per client.

This is where volume misleads. In October 2024 the Navy said it had received more than 550,000 claims under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, and that most lacked the documents needed to show a diagnosis or at least 30 days at the base. Sign-up counts alone tell you little.

So build marketing and intake together. Ads and pages should state the criteria up front (which product, which injury, which years), and the first call should ask the questions that decide the case. Usually fewer people raise their hand, and more of them qualify.

Mass tort leads and lead generators: the risk to your firm

Mass tort lead generation is a big business. Many firms buy "qualified" or "exclusive" mass tort leads, or hire a company that runs the ads and the call center. It adds volume. It also hands your ethics risk to people you don't supervise.

Comment 5 to ABA Model Rule 7.2 says a lawyer may pay for leads only if the lead generator doesn't recommend the lawyer, the payment fits the fee-sharing rules (Rules 1.5(e) and 5.4), and the generator's own communications meet Rule 7.1, which bars misleading statements. Your state's version may be stricter.

ABA Formal Opinion 501 (April 2022) uses a mass tort example: a marketing company, paid a monthly fee, watches online chat rooms for families and survivors of possible mass torts, researches the people there, then phones them about the lawyer. The opinion calls that prohibited live solicitation under Rule 7.3, and says the lawyer ratified it by accepting the leads.

The FTC makes the same point outside law. After a case against a school operator whose lead generators posed as military recruiters, it wrote that companies "can't just turn a blind eye to their lead generators' practices." Some state drug-ad laws reach lead generators directly: Indiana's applies to them rather than to Indiana-licensed attorneys, and Kansas, Tennessee and West Virginia bar using or selling someone's protected health information without consent to solicit them for legal services.

Ad rules for drug and device cases

On top of your state bar's rules (see our law firm advertising rules guide), drug and device campaigns face laws and platform policies a car accident ad never touches. We check these before anything runs.

State laws on drug and device lawsuit ads

Texas Government Code §§ 81.151–81.156 (since September 2019) cover TV ads for legal services. They can't be presented as a "medical alert," "health alert," "drug alert" or public service announcement, can't use a government agency's logo to suggest approval, and can't call a product recalled unless it was. They must open with "This is a paid advertisement for legal services," name the sponsor, and name the responsible lawyer or explain how cases are referred. Ads seeking people hurt by a prescription drug must also say "Do not stop taking a prescribed medication without first consulting a physician." Violations are enforced as deceptive trade practices.

West Virginia's 2020 law requires ads to tell viewers not to stop a drug without their doctor and that stopping may be hazardous, and to say so when the drug is still FDA-approved. The Fourth Circuit upheld it in 2022 in Recht v. Morrisey. Kansas, Indiana and Tennessee have similar laws with different scopes. For a multi-state campaign, write to the strictest one.

Meta

Meta doesn't allow ads that assert, imply or ask about personal attributes, including physical or mental health and medical conditions. Its own example of a violating ad is "Have you been diagnosed with cancer?" So "Did you take this drug and develop this injury?" is out. State the facts of the litigation and what your firm does instead. Meta also removed detailed targeting options tied to health causes in January 2022, so the form has to do more of the screening.

Google

Google lists health conditions and prescription drugs as sensitive categories for personalized ads. Ads and landing pages about them can't use advertiser-curated audiences such as Customer Match, remarketing lists or lookalikes. US ads and landing pages may name prescription drugs, but keyword-targeting those terms requires Google certification. In a drug case the drug name is the search, so check this before the campaign is built.

ChatGPT

Every advertiser goes through OpenAI's business verification and ad review. We set it up and handle it. Your state bar's rules apply here too. More in Can lawyers advertise on ChatGPT?

Mass tort case types, one at a time

Each docket gets its own page, campaign and budget, because the proof and the deadline differ.

What a month with Bookedly looks like

Bookedly is a ChatGPT Ads and AI search marketing agency. We work with law firms across practice areas, and run three services, in this order.

1. ChatGPT Ads

   A campaign per docket, written around the legal question: is there a case, do I qualify, is there a deadline. Each ad lands on that docket's page. Campaigns can start around $25 a day in ad spend. How ChatGPT Ads work.

2. AI SEO

   A page per docket on your website that answers the qualifying questions, the same firm facts on Google, Avvo, Justia and Martindale, and a monthly check of which firms ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI name for that litigation. How AI SEO works.

3. Google & Meta Ads

   Google Search for "[product] lawsuit" searches, built around the drug-term and sensitive-category rules. Meta ads that state the litigation's facts, with forms that ask the qualifying questions.

Your firm approves every ad and page before it goes live. Month-to-month, no long-term contract. The monthly report covers where AI names you, calls, leads and signed cases (here's how we track AI answers). We don't build websites, CRMs or intake teams; we work with yours and show you where a docket's leads get stuck.

How to measure mass tort marketing

Cost per lead misleads when so many leads won't qualify. Track these per docket and per channel:

• Cost per signed client: what each signed retainer cost.
• Pass rate: the share of signed clients whose records meet the criteria.
• Cost per qualified case: spend divided by cases that pass records review. Manage to this one.
• Time to a complete file: days from first contact to a file you can submit.

A channel with a higher cost per lead can turn out cheaper once records come back. Count bought leads, campaigns and referrals the same way.

How to choose a mass tort marketing agency

Ask these before you sign:

• Whose name is on the ads? Yours, or a brand the agency can point at other firms?
• Are leads ever shared or resold? Get "one firm only" in writing.
• Will I see every ad, page and script before it runs?
• How do you handle state drug-ad laws and platform health rules?
• Does anyone make live calls to people who didn't ask? Opinion 501 puts that on you.
• Do you report cost per qualified case?
• Do you promise a number of cases? No one controls docket criteria, platforms or AI answers.

Questions