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Legal Nurse Consulting – Exciting New Outlet for Your Nursing Expertise
by Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD
If you're one of the thousands of nurses looking for a challenging and profitable new way to use your nursing skills, legal nurse consulting may be the career adventure you've been looking for. Opportunities in this growing field are virtually unlimited. I say this with confidence for two reasons:
I've been a successful legal nurse consultant (LNC) since 1982, and I've coached and trained thousands of nurses like you to re-energize their careers and expand their ability to make a difference by becoming LNCs.
You Have a Unique Expertise that Attorneys Need
Your nursing expertise can be invaluable in resolving the medical-
related cases clogging our justice system today. There are more than
1 million attorneys in the U.S., and the vast majority of them do not know how to read a medical record, much less understand it. Most have no firsthand experience with the healthcare system, let alone your insider's knowledge of its inner workings.
In addition to plaintiff and defense attorneys, insurance companies, utilization review firms, government agencies and private corporations need your know-how. In fact, any business or facility involved in health-related legal issues will pay handsomely for your professional legal nurse consulting services.
The Justice System Abounds with Healthcare-Related Cases on Which You Can Consult
Best of all, you don't have to spend a single day in court to prosper as a CLNC®. You can develop a thriving practice consulting behind the scenes. You'll play a key role in many types of cases where your in-depth knowledge is relevant, including these seven areas:
- Medical and Nursing Malpractice
Cases involving the professional negligence of a healthcare provider, facility or learning institution
- General Negligence
Cases involving nonprofessional negligence (commonly called personal injury or PI cases), such as "slip and fall," auto accident, aviation, liquor liability, railroad, admiralty and maritime, water accident and sports injury cases
- Products Liability
Cases involving manufacturers and sellers of defective products, including:
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Medical devices – everything from pacemakers to penile implants
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Drugs – Prozac, DES, etc.
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Nonmedical devices – motor vehicles and parts, aircraft, and machinery, equipment, appliances, toys, cigarettes, food, household, personal care, consumer and industrial products
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- Toxic Torts and Environmental
Cases involving release of toxins, such as electromagnetic fields, asbestos, radiation, hazardous chemicals, hazardous waste, pesticides, secondary smoke and lead, as well as oil spills and sick building syndrome
- Workers' Compensation and Workplace Injury
Cases involving job-related injuries
- Criminal
Cases involving:
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DWI or DUI
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Sexual and physical assault
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Child, spousal and elderly abuse
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Victims of violent crime or excessive use of force by police
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Psychiatric defenses and psychiatric issues
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Criminal environmental charges
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Criminal charges against individual providers and facilities
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- Any Case Where Health, Illness or Injury Is in Issue
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Access to care issues
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Family law cases, such as paternity, adoption cases and custody battle cases
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Probate cases where competency is in issue
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School health cases
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Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) cases
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Cases involving employer-employee or MD-facility relationships
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Sexual harassment cases
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Cases involving the right to die and living wills
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Insurance, Social Security and Medicare benefit issues
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Psychiatrist/therapist abuse or injury cases
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Healthcare professional board disciplinary actions
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You Don't Have to Be a Nurse-Paralegal to Prosper as a CLNC®
In all these matters the attorney is the expert on the law and the legal issues. She looks to YOU for your nursing knowledge and expertise. Attorneys don't need another lawyer – there are more than enough lawyers in this country. And they certainly don't need another low-paid paralegal, which is exactly what you risk becoming if you take a paralegal-based training program.
Your nursing expertise can earn you more than you ever imagined. When I started out as a legal nurse consultant, I had only six years of nursing experience and no business or legal experience whatsoever. Yet within three years I was bringing in a six-figure income. Today's independent CLNC®s charge fees of $125-$150 per hour.
32 Services You Can Provide to Attorneys
How do you start prospering as a CLNC®? By giving attorneys what they need – by providing the expertise they don't have themselves. Your services can include any or all of the following:
- Identify, locate, review and interpret relevant medical records, hospital policies and procedures, other documents and tangible items.
- Organize, tab and paginate medical records for easy reference.
- Prepare chronologies of the medical events involved in a case.
- Summarize, translate and interpret medical records.
- Identify issues of tampering with the medical records.
- Screen medical malpractice cases for merit.
- Identify, locate, summarize and interpret applicable standards of care.
- Identify adherences to and deviations from these standards.
- Identify causation issues, assess damages/injuries and identify contributing factors.
- Identify and recommend potential defendants.
- Develop written reports for the attorney's use as study tools.
- Search and summarize medical and nursing literature and integrate results of search into case analysis.
- Analyze validity of research studies relied on by all parties.
- Coordinate and attend independent medical examinations.
- Help in developing life care plans.
- Expand the attorney's medical library.
- Interview plaintiff and defense clients, key witnesses and experts.
- Consult with healthcare providers.
- Meet with other consultants and service providers on the attorney's behalf.
- Identify types of testifying experts needed for the case.
- Find and communicate with appropriate expert witnesses for deposition and trial.
- Analyze potential experts' reports and other work product.
- Help prepare witnesses and experts for deposition and trial.
- Serve as an expert witness and testify to the nursing standard of care.
- Prepare questions for deposition or trial examination (direct or cross).
- Prepare interrogatories and requests for production.
- Review and draft responses to various legal documents and correspondence for the attorney's signature.
- Analyze and summarize depositions and past testimony.
- Assist with exhibit preparation and other demonstrative evidence.
- Attend courtroom proceedings when relevant.
- Coordinate and assist with facilitating focus groups and mock trials.
- Assist in resolution of cases through alternative dispute resolution, such as arbitration and mediation.
You Can Make a Difference as a Certified Legal Nurse ConsultantCM
Most nurses I know went into nursing because they wanted to help others. As a CLNC® you still have the opportunity to be of service in several broad arenas.
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CLNC®s represent and speak for the nursing profession.
You will uphold nursing standards of care and exemplify the professional behavior that has always been expected of RNs.
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CLNC®s help to improve quality of care.
You will uphold standards of care for the healthcare community and identify meritorious cases involving deviations from recognized standards.
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CLNC®s promote integrity in the legal system.
You will identify fraudulent and non-meritorious claims, and help to defend against them or keep them out of the system.
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CLNC®s promote accuracy in the courtroom.
You will help to ensure that the legal system uses accepted scientific, medical and nursing information properly and without distortion.
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CLNC®s help curb the rising cost of justice.
You will provide a cost-effective adjunct to the litigation process.
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Most importantly, CLNC®s promote justice.
You will help make our court system work fairly for all, protecting innocent victims and compensating them for negligence and other wrongdoing.
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As an RN you already make a difference in the lives of individual patients. As a CLNC®, whether you consult in the attorney's office behind the scenes or appear in the courtroom as an expert witness, you can make a tremendous difference on the larger stage of the legal world.
Your Future Is Up to You
In addition to these personal rewards, you can achieve substantial financial rewards as a CLNC®. You can supplement your income with fees of $125-$150 per hour while working from your home. You can keep your clinical nursing job and become a CLNC® part-time, or you can work toward establishing a full-time legal nurse consulting practice. Ultimately, becoming a CLNC® is about taking control of your time and your life while exploring a fulfilling, profitable new avenue for your career.
Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD
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Successful CLNC®s Say
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"Vickie's a high-energy dynamo. She definitely delivers more than the cost of the program.
I still use those tapes. Even today, I listen to them over and over, and I continue to pick up information
vital to my practice. I got my certification in the fall of '99, and by April of 2000, I left the hospital
and I haven't been back."
Gina Rogers,
RN, BSN, NMCC, CLNC, Kentucky
"You should look into legal nurse consulting because it inspires you, it excites you, you like looking
through records and nosing around in the H&Ps. You like the challenge of starting a business. If you don't want to
start a business, you can always work for a law firm. You have to do what you love, and if this sounds like
something you would love, you can do it. You can do the things the course teaches you; then the sky is the limit."
Tamara Borrmann,
RNC, BSN, CLNC, Colorado
"Vickie is total energy. She doesn't say you have to have the alphabet soup behind your name; you don't need 15 degrees and 30 years of experience. She simply says, 'Take your experience and do it,' and her energy is such that you truly believe you can do it. I feel like I'm a professional. I'm being paid what I should be paid. Wow! Somebody's listening to my opinion, paying attention and paying me a nice fee."
Sue Burnham,
RNC, CLNC, Washington
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