The Top 5 Signs You Are a High-Maintenance Legal Nurse Consultant

Attorneys like working with professional Certified Legal Nurse Consultants. One aspect of professionalism means an attorney doesn’t have to give you a second thought unless it’s to rave about your medical malpractice case report. No one likes to think they’re high-maintenance, but it pays to look at yourself from someone else’s point of view.

Here are the top five signs of high-maintenance legal nurse consultants. Take a moment to see how you would rate yourself if you were the attorney-client rating you.

1. It’s all about you.

Successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultants understand that it’s never what the attorney can do for you, it’s what you do for the attorney. Operate your CLNC^® business from a place of service and you’ll never be in search of attorneys. They’ll be flocking to you. The moment you make the relationship about you and your legal nurse consulting business needs, you risk creating a rift in what could be a potentially lucrative relationship.

1. You don’t leave your personal life at the attorney’s door.

The attorney has his own problems and you’ll probably never know what they are. And the attorney shouldn’t know yours either. The most successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultants keep a friendly distance between their personal and professional lives. They don’t air their dirty laundry in the attorney’s office. There’s always an assistant who’s happy to get down in the dirt with you, but trust me on this, discretion is always the better part of valor. The less the attorney-client knows about your health or relationship issues the better for all involved.

1. Your personal life is on the attorney-client’s clock.

You wouldn’t steal a $20 bill out of the attorney’s wallet, but many people think nothing of dwelling on their personal problems on someone else’s clock. Professional Certified Legal Nurse Consultants bill for an honest hour’s work. They are completely focused on the medical case they’ve been hired to analyze. They don’t sit at their desk worrying about a personal problem, making a doctor’s appointment or discussing their troubles on the phone with a CLNC subcontractor. Mental OCD whining and complaining is just as damaging to your productivity as verbal whining and complaining. You’re ripping off your attorney-client if you’re not 100% focused on the case at hand. Over time this seemingly innocuous practice could cost you big.

1. You make the attorney-client chase you for deadlines.

A low-maintenance CLNC consultant might lose some precious sleep to meet a deadline, but the attorney will never even know it. Miss a deadline and you put your entire relationship with that attorney-client at risk. Just view this video to see what happened in one such case.

1. You call and email your attorney-clients about every little thing.

Attorneys are crazy busy and don’t want to read a constant stream of email commentary regarding your progress in a case or taking a phone call that includes stream-of-consciousness flows of useless information. Attorney-clients are responsive to calls and emails when they trust you will have something important to say. If an attorney dodges your calls or doesn’t respond to email, it’s time to evaluate the quality of your communications.

The best Certified Legal Nurse Consultants are the ones who are the lowest maintenance. How do you rate yourself and would your attorney-clients agree?

I’m Just Askin’

P.S. Comment and share whether you’re high, low or no maintenance as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. I won’t even ask about your personal relationships. LOL!