Expert Witness Referral Fees Are an Investment for Certified Legal Nurse Consultants
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.
2 thoughts on “Expert Witness Referral Fees Are an Investment for Certified Legal Nurse Consultants”
As much as I would like to collect fees from other nurses for referring names, I do not practice my business in that fashion, but completely understand those that do. I prefer to refer names of experts freely with the expectation that others will do the same when I am at my own roadblock. I have networked with many wonderful nurses who refer names at no cost. With that in mind, I will always reciprocate and even research to help other fellow nurses with their location search.
I have not done this yet. I would ask for the CLNC® consultant’s fee schedule, review it and share my fee schedule with him/her. The charges may vary for each CLNC® consultant. If another consultant locates expert witnesses then they should get 50% of my fees. Locating expert witnesses is not an easy task. That consultant did all the work and it is beneficial to my business if I collect 50%.
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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.
As much as I would like to collect fees from other nurses for referring names, I do not practice my business in that fashion, but completely understand those that do. I prefer to refer names of experts freely with the expectation that others will do the same when I am at my own roadblock. I have networked with many wonderful nurses who refer names at no cost. With that in mind, I will always reciprocate and even research to help other fellow nurses with their location search.
I have not done this yet. I would ask for the CLNC® consultant’s fee schedule, review it and share my fee schedule with him/her. The charges may vary for each CLNC® consultant. If another consultant locates expert witnesses then they should get 50% of my fees. Locating expert witnesses is not an easy task. That consultant did all the work and it is beneficial to my business if I collect 50%.