Inside Massive Injury Lawsuits, Clients Get Traded Like Commodities

By Paul Barrett, Bloomberg Businessweek

For all the black robes and ceremony, the American legal system often operates more like a factory assembly line than a citadel of individualized justice. Ninety-five percent of criminal prosecutions end in plea deals. Many defective-product claims settle in mass pacts that benefit attorneys more than putative victims. Now a legal dispute within a plaintiffs’ law firm that organizes massive torts is threatening to pull back the curtain on the mechanics of high-volume litigation.

It’s not a pretty picture.

Amir Shenaq, a 30-year-old financier, sued his former employer, the Houston law firm AkinMears , over ...