I was referred to an attorney by a medical testifying expert I know. Because of that referral, I got right through to the attorney and thought “this is going to be easy.” I couldn’t have been more wrong. After briefly discussing my CLNC^® services, he responded “I have been doing this for 35 years myself.” I acknowledged his expertise as the attorney and then proceeded to explain how I could save him time and money by screening his cases first before he sent them to expensive MD experts. He didn’t bite.

Not one to give up, I next offered to send him a sample of my work product. He agreed. A week later, I called him to follow up. He was very complimentary of my work product but still didn’t hire me for a case.

I decided to focus on something specific to get his attention, so I mentioned that I frequently attend independent medical exams (IME) for attorneys. I shared that attorneys appreciate my ability to point out inadequacies in the exam. Finally, I got his attention.

Three days later, the attorney contacted me and requested that I attend an IME. I did so, and he was impressed by my evaluation and the things I pointed out that the MD did not do during the IME. He had considered settling the case, but after hearing what I had to say he decided the case was stronger than he originally thought. That single IME led to a case and then another.

I consult on many cases for him and attend all of the IMEs. It took awhile, but he finally saw me for the professional I am and how he benefits from my CLNC^® services. I felt like I had run a marathon, but it was worth it in the end.

Nikki J. Chuml, RNC, FMC, PRN, CLNC is an independent Certified Legal Nurse Consultant in California with more than 25 years of nursing experience. She works as a consulting expert in a variety of specialties and as an OB testifying expert nationwide. Nikki is a CLNC^® Mentor and a guest faculty member for Vickie Milazzo Institute.

A recent article in Lawyers USA titled “When Jurors Zone Out” claims that trial attorneys assume that they must treat all jurors under the age of 30 (some attorneys say under 40) as if they have ADHD. This isn’t a medical diagnosis, but an assessment based on behavior during voir dire and at trial. It doesn’t make someone with ADHD a bad juror, but it does create special challenges for the attorney trying to present a complex medical-related case. Some attorneys are even making decisions on whether or not to take a case to trial based in part on whether the subject matter will be of interest to a jury and whether the case can be presented simply and relatively quickly.

This issue will only get worse in our age of increased distractions. What kinds of jurors will our children make tomorrow when they are slaves of video games in restaurants and church today? How about our teenagers, who are genetically attached to their phones, texting and Facebooking, all while doing their homework and watching television? What kinds of jurors will they make?

While I don’t necessarily agree with the attorneys who believe that the distractions today are creating a more “shallow” jury pool, attorneys will have to change how they present cases to jurors used to living in the world of game apps, Facebook, Twitter, texting and the Internet everywhere. Just the thought of facing a jury going through cold-turkey device withdrawal is enough to scare even the most seasoned attorney.

As a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, you can play a role in how your attorney-clients address the ADHD juror. First, you can provide a list of voir dire questions that assist your attorney-client in assessing whether or not a potential juror could have ADHD or another medical condition making it difficult for them to concentrate.

You can also consult with the attorney during the voir dire itself. CLNC^® consultants can also develop a list of medications used to treat ADHD and provide the list to your attorney-clients. Some attorneys are asking potential jurors to disclose their current medications and a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant could use that listing to identify possible jurors with ADHD.

You can also point out the possible drug interactions and side effects of those medications that make it difficult for a potential juror to concentrate. Finally, the savvy CLNC^® consultant can assist the attorney-clients in developing demonstrative evidence to help keep the attention of ADHD-challenged jurors.

Working with juries in an increasingly ADHD-afflicted world will be a challenge for your attorney-clients. Use and market your nursing knowledge about ADHD for your attorney-clients to ensure the attorney never forgets to retain you on an important medical-related or other complicated case.

Success Is Inside!

One of the first things all Certified Legal Nurse Consultants learn in the CLNC^® Certification Program is the 30 CLNC^® services you can and do provide to your attorney-clients. In today’s video blog, one of our CLNC^® Mentors shares a brand new CLNC^® service she is providing to attorneys. Watch this video to add one more service to your own CLNC^® business.

Success Is Inside!

The term “sexual assault” refers to forced sexual intercourse. The term used in your state, region or area may be called “sexual abuse” or “rape.” It is important for each person to check the law’s legal definition in their state.

How many of these statements have you heard as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant reviewing a sexual assault case?

• There was a delay in seeking treatment and/or reporting the assault.
• They know each other and they were on a date.
• There were no injuries.
• They were calm when they arrived.

CLNC^® consultants should focus on the facts in a case, not the assumptions while at the same time being alert to how others might interpret the case.

Many times the survivor may delay seeking treatment or reporting the incident. The delay in seeking care may have been because the victim was in shock. They could have been threatened, unconscious or waiting for a friend or family member to arrive to assist them. The survivor of a sexual assault is a trauma patient; and they will have the same psychological reactions as any other trauma patient. The reactions you may see documented are that they were calm one minute, crying or angry the next and withdrawn or even confused at another time. A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant should not focus on whether or not the victim delayed seeking care or delayed reporting the assault to determine if the case has merit.

Saying the victim knew the attacker so they can’t claim assault is not necessarily a strong defense. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), 73% of sexual assaults are committed by a nonstranger and 38% by a friend or acquaintance. 93% of juvenile survivors know their attacker. Of the 93%, 34.2% are family members, 58.7% are acquaintances and only 7% are strangers.

Knowing the attacker, being on a date with them or even being married to them does not give the “okay” to be sexually assaulted. “No” means “no” when said to a spouse, dating partner, relative, friend, any kind of acquaintance or a stranger.

A physical examination, even in a child victim, may not reveal any injuries. Factors that can affect the injuries are anatomy, physiology, how much force was used, how much the victim resisted, the time lapsed between the assault and the exam and the grooming of the victims. Everyone’s anatomy is not the same and this is true of the genital area and the hymen also. If there was an injury or difference documented, it is important to know if it is an anomaly or an acute injury. Also, realize there are other types of injuries beside sexual assault that can cause an injury in the genital area or even cause a ruptured hymen. The vagina and cervix are vascular areas and heal quickly. If time has elapsed before the examination, any injury might be healing or healed. If injuries were documented, then you may be able to determine if the injury was acute by checking the records to see if the victim was examined a few days to a week later. If another examination was completed, compare the documentation of injuries. If documentation confirms that the anatomy is the same and no further sexual assault was found to have occurred, then it was probably not an acute injury.

Legal nurse consultants should also be aware that estrogen can play a role in whether there might have been injuries noted with the exam. Estrogen in females makes the cervix thicker and more redundant. Injuries might be less likely to occur during the child bearing years when there is usually more estrogen in the body. The victim’s resistance to the attack and the force and object(s) used have an effect on any injuries sustained. If the victim did not resist the attack, the examiner may not discover any injuries. The victim’s cooperation should not be confused with their willingness to have intercourse. They may have feared for their life, been too traumatized to resist, been drugged, intoxicated or the attacker could have threatened them, a loved one or even a pet.

Child victims may have been “groomed” by the predator. Grooming is the process of desensitizing the child. The predator usually has some type of relationship with the child. This relationship provides the predator with the opportunity and access to the child to engage, entrap, prepare and trick the child into accepting the sexual abuse. The grooming can start with subtle behaviors or statements and once the victim responds favorably, some form of sexual activity begins, and often progresses. When there is less resistance, there may be little to no injury sustained or noted.

Remember that a calm victim does not indicate whether assault did or did not happen. A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant needs to review and consider all information and documentation – the subjective and objective data obtained during the physical exam and the history of what occurred. Gather all records from other disciplines that might have spoken with or examined the victim after the assault. Review the records to be sure the examination was conducted thoroughly, to learn what type of practitioner performed the exam, that all evidence was collected and stored properly and that the chain of evidence was followed.

Most areas have at least one hospital and sometimes several that have a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) or sexual assault response team (SART). A SANE is a registered nurse who has had specialized education to provide comprehensive care to sexual assault patients and demonstrates competency in conducting a forensic exam and who has the expertise to give effective courtroom testimony. SARTs are set up in a similar style with a multidisciplinary and community-based approach to caring for and assisting the victim. The teams usually consist of local law enforcement, prosecutors, judicial members, a victim advocacy group, the hospital, SANE members and any other professionals with a vested interest in assisting victims of sexual assault.

With a thorough review of all the information, a definite response to the question of whether the victim was really sexually assaulted still cannot always be given. The response that can be given is the results of the examination, the injuries sustained and any behaviors noted that were or were not consistent with the history obtained.

Guest Blogger Profile

Cheryl Garrison RN, CEN, SANE, CLNC has 18 years of emergency nursing experience and has been a SANE nurse for 8 years. She is cofounder of Class Act Consulting Services, LLC in Kansas specializing in emergency and abuse cases. Her company has assisted the local district attorney in the victims unit on various abuse cases. Her company partners with an elite group of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who specialize in various nursing specialties including labor and delivery to hospice, home health and Medicare fraud cases.

Vickie asked me to share a few experiences as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant that have taken my breath away. I have been fortunate to have experienced quite a few “breathless” moments in my CLNC^® business.

When I started my CLNC^® career, I worked very hard to give my attorney-clients what they needed, and more. One particular client, a big medical-malpractice attorney, wasn’t in the habit of doling out compliments. I knew that my work was up to par because he never complained about anything, however, he never came out and told me how indispensable or valuable I was to him (leftover insecurities from being a nurse).

One day I was in his office and his paralegal brought him his mail. As we were talking, he was looking through his mail. He pulled out an envelope and sliced it open with his opener. He paused for a few seconds to look over the contents and called his paralegal to come to his office. He said (and I’ll never forget it), “When we get anything from other legal nurses, ignore them, and if they call here tell them we have our own nurse consultant who we use.” Wow! That was a real moment for me. It was like getting a bolus of confidence; the maximum dosage of pride; and a booster of determination to get out there and sell myself to more attorneys.

I have been fortunate enough to have uncovered crucial information contained in medical records that have had a huge impact on more than one case. Every time I begin to review a set of medical records, I secretly hope I find something that will either be extremely helpful for the client, or have an impact on the financial outcome. Nothing endears you more to your client than handing them a box of ammunition they didn’t know they had. In plaintiff cases I have found information that clearly involves hospital employees, thus involving the “deep pockets” of the hospital facility. In defense cases, I have uncovered evidence that the plaintiffs’ injuries were pre-existing conditions, thus reducing the value of the cases. I have detected tampering of the medical records in plaintiff cases that have completely altered the value of the cases, and have added much desired juror empathy for the plaintiffs.

I experience breathless moments at the beginning of every day as a CLNC^® consultant. To wake up without having to hurry to get cleaned up and dressed for work. I don’t have to worry about driving to and from work. If I need to schedule a doctor’s appointment, I don’t have to jump through hoops to get the time off work. If I want to go shopping, I just go. I can work any time I want. I can wear anything I want when I work (well, I can right now, but since videoconferencing is in my future, I’ll have to make adjustments).

I just become breathless when I think about how I have changed my life with Vickie’s help and encouragement.

Jane Hurst, RN, CLNC

I have been a nurse almost 26 years, with 24 of those years working in critical care. For most of that time I loved what I did. However, the last six years have been fraught with increasing dissatisfaction with the nursing profession. I grew (in my old age!) intolerant of the toxic, disrespectful atmosphere of hospital nursing. I had increasingly grown tired of physicians, nursing administrators and hospital administrators minimizing my knowledge, experience and contributions. What else was there to do? This was it, right? But, Vickie’s ads for the Institute’s CLNC^® Certification Program caught my attention every month FOR YEARS. I thought, “That must be nice!”

In October 2007, I decided I had to make a move. I hated my job. However, due to circumstances resulting from my husband suffering a work accident, I was financially responsible for my family. I enrolled in Vickie Milazzo Institute’s 40-hour CLNC^® Certification Home-Study Program. My goal was to complete the program, and sit for my CLNC^® Certification Exam by December 2007. Viewing the DVDs, and following along with the textbook was like sitting in the auditorium of a live conference. While I didn’t achieve my goal of CLNC^® Certification in December, I did pass the CLNC^® Certification Exam on March 4, 2008. And two weeks later, I attended my first annual National Alliance of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants Conference.

I returned home from the conference energized and motivated and ready to build my CLNC^® business. But was I really? It was so comfortable to go back to what I knew – going nowhere in hospital nursing. Sure, I developed and mailed marketing folders, but contrary to what Vickie taught, I did not follow-up. In December 2008, I finally placed a follow-up call to an attorney to whom I had sent one of my marketing folders. We met for lunch the next week, and I left with a case. The attorney was a plaintiff attorney from an aggressive, successful firm. His specialty is construction accidents and products liability. I was a wreck. What the heck did I just agree to do? That same afternoon, I emailed questions to the Institute’s CLNC^® Mentors, re-read sections of my Core Curriculum for Legal Nurse Consulting^® textbook, and referred to the many real case reports included with the VIP CLNC^® Business System.

After emailing the attorney my completed report, he responded, “This is way more than I expected. We need to talk.” Again we met for lunch. He asked if I would “take control” of working to create a visual to use in court as demonstrative evidence of the client’s damages. “Absolutely!” I responded. On my ride home, my thoughts were, “Where do I start?” Then I remembered I had a business card from a medical illustrator vendor that exhibited at the NACLNC^® Conference. With a budget of essentially nothing, and a timeframe of just two weeks, I worked with a phenomenal team in Florida to create a 2D presentation of our client’s injuries. The presentation was used during the expert testimony portion early in the trial. On the evening of the fourth day, the defense offered a settlement of $4.5 million.

For the next four months, I continued to work for this attorney. His paralegal would email me that there was a case that needed to be picked up. I would develop the case, and, with great anticipation and excitement, wait for the next email. All the while, I was spending most of my time in a hospital position which exhausted me, both physically and mentally.

Vickie’s words resonated in my head: “Go all in.” Summer was approaching, and it was as good a time as any. I emailed my attorney-client, expressing my desire to consult on more medical-legal cases. He responded by asking me to come down for a meeting as he had “an idea that will work for both of us.” I met with the attorney-client, his paralegal and his secretary. He asked me to be his medical-legal coordinator. “Did you just make up this job title?” I asked. “Yep,” he chuckled.

I maintain a consultant status, but completely manage the medical issues of all the attorney’s cases. My most common CLNC^® services include reviewing medical records and developing chronologies, researching and defining alleged injuries, researching past medical history, calculating pain medication requirements post-injury, working with medical illustrators to create demonstrative evidence, writing comprehensive reports and assisting with discovery. I present possible defenses, and suggest the best expert witnesses. I speak with my attorney-clients at least monthly to just “check-in.” My attorney-clients love this! I also attend trials and depositions.

I took a leave of absence from my job at the hospital for the summer and have not gone back! I worked from the beach all summer! My time was totally my own – I could work at the crack of dawn or after midnight. My goal, by the end of 2009, was to bill $8,000.00 for one month. For December 2009, I billed for $10,000.00! And this was just part time!

I love what I do. I feel appreciated and part of a team again. My nursing knowledge is valued. Thank you, Vickie, for giving me the tools, support and encouragement to be a successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. As Vickie says, “We are nurses, and we can do anything!^®”

Guest Blogger Profile

Annmarie Johnson, RN, ASN, CLNC owns and operates Bucks Medical-Legal Consulting. She has been a nurse for 26 years, 24 specializing in critical care. Annmarie’s CLNC^® business specializes in construction accidents and products liability.

During my 10+ years as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, I have been fortunate to have worked with a few of the most prestigious elder abuse attorney litigators in the U.S. Being a member of the trial team is an experience that for me epitomizes the world of legal nurse consulting. It is the high point of my CLNC^® business and I consider it to be a privilege. While I could share many remarkable stories, two experiences stand out.

The first experience was the second time I had been a part of a trial team. As a CLNC^® consultant, I worked the file inside and out, read thousands of pages of medical records, hundreds of pages of deposition transcripts and worked with the testifying experts in preparation for their trial testimony. Finally, we were in trial. I sat in the first row of the audience and, as my attorney-client instructed, passed notes to the bailiff who in turn gave them to my attorney-client. I watched plaintiff counsel put on their case. Finally, the plaintiff’s RN testifying expert was on the stand. Direct examination completed and cross examination had begun. I began to fervently write potential questions on my note pad and passed them along. Then the judge called for a break.

My attorney-client motioned for me to approach the defense table. He said, “Suzanne, take me through this line of questioning.” Point by point; I lead him through what I thought was a convincing defense clinical argument. Our goal was to “poke holes” in the plaintiff expert’s opinion. My attorney-client was so impressed with my argument, he turned to me and said, “Suzanne, you should be an attorney!” I was flattered and gasped all at the same time! I never thought I could use my nursing expertise to help a legal team! I have no desire to become an attorney, but I am sure thankful and excited to be a successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultant!

My second outstanding experience was as a testifying expert. I was asked to render my opinion regarding the nursing standard of care in a nursing home elder abuse case. The case surrounded a fall, fracture, skin tears and bruises. Many hours went into trial preparation. My opinions were laced into my defense-client’s opening presentation.

Finally, it was my turn to testify. The adrenaline was racing through my veins. Boy, was I pumped! Direct examination went well. Now it was plaintiff’s turn. Cross-examination proceeded fairly well. Counsel repeated questions previously asked and tried to change them in an attempt to trip me up. It wasn’t working. I could see he was becoming frustrated. The volume of his voice began to rise. All the while, I sat relaxed (so I’m told) in the witness chair.

Then came the line of questioning surrounding a dog bite that was sustained during routine pet visits. The resident had pet the dog, as he had so many times before, but this time the dog nipped him. The “bite” healed uneventfully. Because the attorney couldn’t rattle my cage, he blurted out the question, “What kind of dog was it, anyway?” I paused, but before an objection could be given, I responded, “That’s irrelevant.” The jury laughed, my attorney-client at the defense table smiled, and the plaintiff’s attorney was left speechless!

When I got the call that the jury had found for the defense, I was thrilled. My attorney-client was also thrilled with the verdict, and was especially thrilled with my testimony and appreciative of my input as a member of his trial team.

Suzanne E. Arragg, RN, BSN, CDONA/LTC, CLNC

My tech tip this week is a spin-off from Vickie’s blog about What Certified Legal Nurse Consultants Can Learn At the Mall. If you’ve been in a movie theater, mall or computer store lately, I’m sure you’ve seen that HP is pushing its Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web All-in-One printer. Like any other printer, it can be plugged directly into a home network. It also has a built-in wireless connection that can tap into your home wireless network (“Look Honey, no more cables.”), allowing you to place the printer wherever you want. What’s truly novel about this new printer is that it’s “Internet-enabled.” Yes, that’s right, you can use your printer to search the Internet and print what you find – a map, photo, Web page, whatever. If you can stand the small screen, then you don’t even need a computer or monitor to use this printer. Is that the genius or the defect?

Obviously this printer isn’t designed to replace a computer. Certified Legal Nurse Consultants still need to create documents for their legal nurse consulting businesses, send emails to attorney-clients and do lots of other things on a computer. So what exactly is the purpose of a device that prints without need of a source other than the Internet? Well, it has slots for camera memory cards, but does anyone want to edit photos on the printer versus a computer? Yes, you can print Fandango movie tickets, maps from Google, parts of USA Today and coupons. But, do you really want to surf the web on a 4″ screen and more important, what kind of virus protection will it have? I played with this printer at my local movie theater and if this is the future, you can include me out.

Don’t get me wrong, HP makes great printers and their new printer is getting good reviews. But as a fax and scanner, it’s missing something absolutely necessary in my opinion – an automatic document feeder. So what’s its purpose other than to sell more ink cartridges by getting you to print more color documents?

That, my CLNC^® amigos, is the question. The lesson to be gleaned from this printer is pretty clear. If you have to go to great lengths to explain to an attorney-client or attorney-prospect why they need a particular service (or an Internet-enabled printer, refrigerator or beer cooler), they might not really need it. Certified Legal Nurse Consultants all know that there are 32 legal nurse consulting services you can offer your attorney-clients and attorney-prospects that they really, genuinely need. But not all of them need all 32 CLNC^® services. Plus, if you’ve come up with the killer 33rd or 38th service and nobody (and I mean nobody) gets it – maybe that’s because THEY DON’T NEED IT. You could be ahead of your time or your legal nurse consulting career may have jumped the shark.

Remember what Vickie’s taught you – do your research and market to the needs of your attorney-clients and attorney-prospects. If there’s a CLNC^® service they’re not using yet, make sure it’s one that fits them before you pitch it to them. Market smarter, not harder.

In the meantime, if anyone has any other candidates for useless or even useful “Internet-enabled” devices or appliances (besides really big screen TVs) comment and let me know.

Keep on techin’ and I’ll see you next year!

Tom

That’s a pretty powerful question with many different answers. Back in June, I tweeted about a high-profile case that involved an MD who was blogging about his medical malpractice trial as the trial was in progress. I used this as an example to illustrate why Certified Legal Nurse Consultants should recommend that their attorney-clients check out social media (and the blogosphere) for postings by opposing parties (and their own parties), before and during a trial. That case ended in a substantial settlement for the plaintiff after the MD was shown to have exposed trial strategy, ridiculed the case and made generally inappropriate postings for which he was confronted during the trial.

Another MD blogged about a recently concluded medical malpractice trial. His blogging initially raised all sorts of HIPAA questions (which became a nonissue once the suit was filed and anything happening at trial became public). Just to be safe, the MD allegedly changed some of the “facts” as you can read in his disclaimer. This raises issues of what sort of information should or should not be exposed, even after a trial. Granted you can sit in a courtroom, listen to the testimony and see the evidence, but you are not privy to the thinking, reasoning and strategy decisions of the attorneys and the parties they represent. Perhaps that’s something an attorney wouldn’t want his defendant or plaintiff blogging about. Read the articles and analyses on both these cases and make your own decisions. Keep in mind that attorneys are under their own ethical restrictions that we’ll discuss below.

A famous poker player won’t appear on those poker television shows that televise a player’s hand. He doesn’t want people to see how he plays, bluffs or calls on certain hands because they could develop a strategy to beat him. Trial attorneys might feel the same way about having their strategies exposed.

That being said, let’s look at a different set of potential bloggers, the jurors and/or courtroom spectators. In our electronic age no one, and I mean no one, likes to be “off the grid.” Spectators blogging from the courtroom are the equivalent of news reporters and don’t present a problem.

Smart phones with easy Internet access like the Blackberry^® or iPhone^® have created modern day courtroom issues. Judges have always admonished jurors not to read about a case or view television trial coverage, but how many judges give jury instructions regarding blogging? Tweeting (micro-blogging) and even researching the basis of the parties’ claims raises issues during a trial. Even something as simple as texting can be problematic. Remember, jurors are supposed to make their decisions based solely on the information they receive in the courtroom – only the evidence introduced at trial. So if a juror reads a blog about the trial, that would be the same as viewing a news report about the trial or Googling the underlying claims. That sort of behavior risks prejudicing the case or raising the possibility of a mistrial. Attorneys should search social media and the blogosphere during and after trial for traces of this type of misconduct. Some people are shameless about what they post, so armed with a few keywords and content of text messages sent during a trial, it can be quite simple to discover and possibly render a juror liable for contempt.

So far we’ve discussed the plaintiffs, defendants and jurors – what about the plaintiff and defense attorneys? Any Certified Legal Nurse Consultant will remember from the Institute’s CLNC^® Certification Program that attorneys are ethically prohibited from disclosing certain confidential client communications without the client’s consent. This applies to the blogosphere both during and after trial. But what about statements made in advance of trial or while selecting the jury that might tend to influence a well-read jury pool? A few attorneys make money writing books about their high-profile clients but that’s well after the client’s gone to jail (or not). A gag order by a judge can preclude an attorney from blogging about an ongoing trial. Attorneys may use hypothetical postings as long as there is no reasonable likelihood the client or situation can be identified. With all this in mind, blogging, texting and even list serve postings will be an issue to watch (or read about).

Judges, like attorneys, are ethically restricted from discussing pending or ongoing matters being litigated. So, if you think you see the judge texting from beneath the bench, let your attorney-client know. They may not want to risk the ire of a judge who’s simply discussing dinner plans, but might infer the judge wasn’t fully present during trial.

Finally, there’s you – the legal nurse consultant. As you work closely with the attorney-client and the litigation team, you’ll have inside information about the case, the parties, strategies, etc. As an agent of the attorney you are also precluded from disclosing certain confidential information. If you value your legal nurse consulting business you must refrain from tweeting and blogging about a trial in progress (“The defense expert is getting blown away – we’re moving in for the kill with my questions on SOC.”) without your attorney’s knowledge and permission. In fact, I recommend you not discuss your cases at all on the Internet. Frankly, it’s poor business practice.

Social media and blogging are emerging parts of cyberspace and both sides in the legal arena need to explore and monitor their usage. It’s a brave new world of communications and communicability for legal nurse consultants and the legal profession. If you use your mind (while others around you are losing theirs), you’ll successfully avoid any amateur mistakes.

Success Is Inside!

Jane Hurst, RN, CLNC has become the first international legal nurse consultant, consulting with a Swedish medical device company. Her consulting business has taken her to Sweden and this summer she’ll be presenting on legal nurse consulting and medical device cases at a European conference.

Jane has been a CLNC^® consultant for 17 years. On behalf of more than 6,000 Certified Legal Nurse Consultants and the NACLNC^® Community I’d like to celebrate Jane’s international success.

Wherever there are attorneys, there are opportunities. I challenge all legal nurse consultants to think globally about your legal nurse business and market internationally to take your entrepreneurship to the next level.

Success Is Inside!