Our Formal Launch Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – May 14, 2013 A Baltimore entrepreneur is turning public data into a private benefit for consumers. Byron Warnken, a lawyer, has turned the Maryland legal cases database into statistics on lawyers and defendants. It’s now easier to ascertain who gets sued the most and why, as well as which lawyers are the best at handling the suits.
“Maryland Case Search” as the Judiciary’s website is known, has over 500 million records, stemming from millions of cases. Warnken’s site, InjuryLawyerDatabase.com, has analyzed it, and currently displays statistics on more than 1000 of the top plaintiffs’ lawyers and more than 10,000 defendants.
“I think legal consumers usually pick lawyers in a very unscientific way. I wanted a way to be able to do significant research based on real cases. That’s why InjuryLawyerDatabase exists,” Warnken said. “Someone seeking a lawyer can, with just a quick look, get a lot of information on quality and experience.”
Warnken thinks many potential clients can benefit from the data. He goes on to call his site, “an important source of facts in a world filled with opinions.”
Some of the featured lawyers include Peter T Nicholl, Peter Angelos, and Saiontz and Kirk, among others. The most commonly sued defendants stem from asbestos litigation.
InjuryLawyerDatabase.com also lists commonly sued hospitals, insurance companies, and Maryland businesses. The website breaks lawsuits down by type of case – auto torts, malpractice, divorce, and nearly 100 others. It also breaks down statistics by city and jurisdiction.
Maryland Judiciary Case Search is actually the second database Warnken’s company, 27Legal, LLC, has obtained. The first was Maryland’s Workers’ Compensation Commission database. “Public data is a powerful tool. Aggregated public data can provide real insight into a career, an organization or even a culture.”
Warnken says 27Legal plans to build other websites to display data from other databases. 27Legal, LLC is on the forefront of what is anticipated to be an explosive growth area – public data. The company is currently seeking venture capital to take the model to other states.