Want to know what to do if your legal nurse fees are a bit low? Simply increase your fee 10% annually until you are at the rate where you need to be. Increase your fee first with attorney-clients you can afford to lose if they choose not to hire you at the increased rate.
Increasing fees annually is another important component to keeping legal nurse fees at an appropriate level. Click here to learn the average annual fee increase for Certified Legal Nurse Consultants.
Communicate fee increases verbally and in writing to each attorney-client at least two months in advance of the increase. The best time to communicate fee increases is when the attorney raves about your work product. You can charge different fees for different law firms or, for simplicity and consistency, you can increase your fee for all attorney-clients at the same time.
Fees speak loudly in creating a perception of quality and professionalism. Never underprice yourself. Setting fees too low actually works against you. Your fee should represent you as the competent, trained and highly-qualified nursing professional that you are.
At a recent legal conference, where Certified Legal Nurse Consultants exhibit to attorneys with LegalNurse.com’s Marketing Mentors, one CLNC consultant quoted $150/hr to an attorney. She got excited and proceeded to say, “If you send me a lot of cases I can lower my fee.” But before she could utter the words “lower my fee,” the attorney interrupted and said “$150 is fair.” She immediately shut up which was exactly the right thing to do.
I’m Just Sayin’
P.S.Comment and share how you notify your attorney-clients of legal nurse fee increases.
2 thoughts on “Legal Nurse Consultant Fees – Survey Results”
Thank you so much for addressing fees and what the range is. It’s hard to know if what you are charging is appropriate. I had 2 attorneys question my fee of $150/hr when we discussed at initial interview. I did what you taught us, be quiet! It’s nice to know what others are charging. Thank you
Thank you for sharing the information regarding CLNC® fees. Attorneys do not realize how much money our services can save them. We just have to continue educating them on the benefits of hiring a CLNC® consultant.
I think that we compare the $150/hour fee against what we are paid in the typical nursing job, and compared to that number, $150/hour seems like a lot to us. Perhaps remembering how overworked and underpaid nurses are in the hospitals and in our communities will help us to jump over this mental hurdle.
LegalNurse.com is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
The National Alliance of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants (NACLNC®) is the largest and oldest association of legal nurse consultants.
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*The opinions and statements made by Vickie Milazzo, the founder of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc. are based on her experiences and expertise, should not be applied beyond the specific context provided, and do not guaranty or project actual results. Vickie Milazzo is no longer involved in the operations or management of the business, but is involved as an independent education consultant.
Thank you so much for addressing fees and what the range is. It’s hard to know if what you are charging is appropriate. I had 2 attorneys question my fee of $150/hr when we discussed at initial interview. I did what you taught us, be quiet! It’s nice to know what others are charging. Thank you
Thank you for sharing the information regarding CLNC® fees. Attorneys do not realize how much money our services can save them. We just have to continue educating them on the benefits of hiring a CLNC® consultant.
I think that we compare the $150/hour fee against what we are paid in the typical nursing job, and compared to that number, $150/hour seems like a lot to us. Perhaps remembering how overworked and underpaid nurses are in the hospitals and in our communities will help us to jump over this mental hurdle.