How law firms use Facebook and other data to track down medical victims

For ambulance chasers, persistence and a phone book just don’t cut it anymore. Law firms, which once relied on television commercials, billboards, and cold calling numbers in the white pages to find plaintiffs for medical lawsuits, have begun to embrace technology. To locate their ideal pharma victims more quickly and at lower costs, they're using data compiled from Facebook, marketing firms, and public sources, with help from digital bounty hunters like Tim Burd.

Burd is a devoted practitioner of the art of sales. His Skype username begins with the phrase made famous by Glengarry Glen Ross, a play about desperate real estate salesmen: “Always be closing.” Read more...