The furor over the diabetes drug is prompting a new gold rush for plaintiffs’ attorneys. But they’re not all the same. Mark Lanier, the lawyer who drugmakers love to hate, says that the same day the controversial analysis was published in The New England Journal of Medicine, he got calls from three lawyers who wanted to broker Avandia cases they expected to pull in through ads.

“There are lawyers who have figured out how to hook the good clients in the legal process. They’re really good chicken catchers,” Lanier tells The Houston Chronicle. “They need chicken pluckers. Me, I’m a chicken plucker.”

Adam Pulaski confesses he’s never tried a product-liability drug case, but his phone number is 1-800-BAD-DRUG. This week, he began running TV ads around the country seeking Avandia cases. “We’ve already gotten 900 calls, and we expect around 10,000,” he squawks.

Of course, this also generates fees for lawyers who rep drugmakers. Nathan Schachtman, a Philadelphia defense lawyer, acknowledges that when plaintiff’s lawyers sue, defense lawyers eventually get more business. But he said stopping the lawsuits could be good for his business too. “If I could put out a mass tort fire,” he clucks, “I think I would not want for work.”