Vickie: This is Certified Legal Nurse Consultant Susan Shuman, RN, MSN, CLNC. Susan, I asked to talk to you because there are two things you’ve addressed with your legal nurse consultant business that are quite interesting. First, let’s talk about connections you made on LinkedIn. You told me that one of the things that you did was you went in and connected with 500 attorneys immediately.

Susan: After I took the CLNC^® Certification Program I knew that if I posted my profile on LinkedIn attorneys would see that and it might prompt them to call me. And sure enough, I’ve gotten numerous calls since I’ve become a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant and it’s led to a lot of legal nurse consultant jobs from attorneys all over the country.

Vickie: I love that because you’ve told me that a lot of these attorneys you’ve never even met face-to-face. You’ve worked on cases with them and it shows the power of social media and sources such as LinkedIn. There are Certified Legal Nurse Consultants, especially beginners, who say “Look, I don’t know attorneys” but you don’t have to know attorneys to find them, do you?

Susan: You don’t. Some attorneys would just prefer to look at your LinkedIn profile to see if you’re a fit for them. If your experience is what they’re looking for, they’re going to hire you for legal nurse consultant jobs. They could be looking for a legal nurse consultant or some advice on a case and that’s proven true for me.

Vickie: That’s one way you’ve made connections. Another way you’ve made a strong connection is with an MD who does a lot of independent medical exams (IMEs). I know you mentioned that he utilizes you to help provide summaries, and that, in fact he keeps you busy enough that you have to have other Certified Legal Nurse Consultants to assist you with these summaries.

Susan: Yes, this is a local orthopedic surgeon who’s getting a little older and he’s trying to hone his business to where he’s less in the OR and more doing IMEs for workers’ compensation cases. What I do is summarize hundreds of pages of medical records into just a couple of pages so he can do more IMEs and spend less time in the OR. There’s been so much work that I’ve actually had to hire CLNC subcontractors to help me do the summaries.

Vickie: A good source of income for you as well! Of course, we know MDs don’t like to go through medical records so a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant is the perfect person for that. Is there anything else you want to say to your peers to encourage them to go out there and connect with attorneys?

Susan: I would say to join LinkedIn, create a professional profile and be sure to include all of your experience, because sometimes it’s that niche attorneys are looking for. I worked in the OR many years ago, I’ve done OR cases now and it’s been 20 years since I’ve worked in the OR, but they still see that and utilize me.

Vickie: It’s about specificity and remembering your unique selling position (USP) and really getting into a very specific USP. Thanks Susan and congratulations.

Susan: You’re welcome, thank you.

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