Yesterday a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant sent in this mentoring request: “I am locating an MD expert for an attorney. What is the going referral rate for another CLNC® consultant who refers an MD expert to me? ” I advised that the standard business practice is to treat the referring Certified Legal Nurse Consultant as a CLNC subcontractor and pay 50% of the expert witness location fee.
The CLNC consultant responded with surprise, and exclaimed that 50% of her fee seemed steep. My response: “You can always search for the specific MD or RN expert yourself, but if another Certified Legal Nurse Consultant can recommend an expert she has been successful with, using that expert is smarter and more time efficient. Any time you can use an expert with a proven track record you also potentially provide a better result for your attorney-client. While 50% might sound steep, you can use that testifying expert on future cases and even with different attorneys, at no additional charge.”
When sharing experts, think of the 50% fee as an inexpensive investment in your own pool of experts and be generous in sharing the wealth that you’ll enjoy for the life of your CLNC business.
I’m Just Advisin’
P.S. Comment here and share how you bill for locating experts for other Certified Legal Nurse Consultants.
