My heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all the Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who attended our successful 2009 NACLNC Conference in San Antonio. Our sell-out gathering was a spectacular event, and I hope you had as much fun as I did. It was great to see and talk with all of you again.
I haven’t gotten into the “cloud” yet. Something about keeping my documents in the vast reaches of Cyberspace doesn’t appeal to me. But for a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant who needs to move documents from one computer to another, I tend to prefer “sneakerspace.” This is where USB flash drives (or memory sticks) stand out. I don’t like to email confidential documents and burning them onto a CD is time consuming. Instead I jack a USB drive into one of the spare ports on my computer and drag the document(s) onto the drive. The hardest part is remembering to get the drive back from the recipient. It’s also another way to carry or send a set of your important data, reports, presentations, graphics, etc., from one location to another without having to carry a laptop or burn multiple CDs.
Vickie,
I was hired by an attorney to locate a testifying expert. When I sent the contract to the attorney to sign, he sent it back requesting that I put the plaintiff’s name in the contract instead of his. I learned in the CLNC® Certification Program that the contract is always between the law firm and me and that is how I have always done it. Should I consider his request or stick with the way I was taught?
According to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) U.S. citizens traveling by land or sea to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or parts of the Caribbean must show proof of citizenship in the form of either a passport, passport card or WHTI-compliant document (government-issued photo ID and birth certificate) to get back into the good ole’ USofA. So, if you’re a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant who is considering a future NACLNC cruise, you’ll need to have one of the above to be back to your home office once your ship comes in.
For Christmas, I got a terrific present from one of the least likely persons you’d expect. No, not our CPA, but our intellectual property attorney. He settled an intellectual property dispute on behalf of LegalNurse.com.
I make my living working with litigators. So do Certified Legal Nurse Consultants. We’re all aware of the high cost of litigation, both monetarily and emotionally. That’s why when our attorney was able to settle this case without the necessity of filing a suit, I was surprised and grateful. Potential defendants don’t often come to the table that easily.
Over the past 27 years, I’ve worked hard to create a body of intellectual property. Over those same 27 years, I’ve had to deal with copyright infringement that’s run from the minor lists and jokes to mind-boggling, outrageous plagiarism. When you see one of your creations copied so closely that it includes one of your typos, you’ve got the other party dead to rights. I could point to several examples that are being remedied right now, if our attorney would let me. I’ve never understood people who would try to take a short-cut up the ladder of success by climbing up someone else’s back.
Whether you are screening medical malpractice cases for plaintiff or defense as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, you should be on the lookout for those obvious meritorious cases. When you see them, the red flags go up as long as there is significant injury or death. For example, maternal death gets everyone’s attention. The plaintiff CLNC® consultant’s response is – this is one the plaintiff attorney should absolutely represent. The defense CLNC® consultant’s initial response is – the defense should settle and settle fast.
How has your income level changed in this economy?
Dale: Vickie, I’m proud to say that last year I was a little ahead with my legal nurse consulting business compared to the prior year – which is saying something when so many other types of businesses experienced a downturn. I’m going to be away for most of January, on a trip to East Africa. People are amazed that I can afford to leave my business during this economy.
Obstacles have to be overcome in every economy. What obstacles are you facing now?
Dale: Vickie, my biggest obstacle is time. Particularly trying to squeeze in time to continue marketing every month. I’ve been a CLNC® consultant for 9½ years, so I don’t have to market at the same level I did in the beginning, but I know that being busy is no justification for not marketing. You taught me to always keep marketing to assure the phone is ringing.
For the first time in my memory nurses are getting laid off in significant numbers. The deteriorating health of our economy is affecting almost every U.S. job – this includes nursing. But as I am hearing from the registered nurses I’ve trained, a career as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant is a recession-proof choice.
I just got home from the Great Christmas Migration of 2008. Tom and I are bicoastal. His family is in Pennsylvania and mine is in San Diego. Both demand our presence (and presents) at Christmas. This gives us plenty of chances to enjoy the fun of air travel and to meet interesting and helpful people along the way. This year instead of emulating the executives from the auto industry we decided to forgo taking the VMI company jet (Southwest, in our case), and instead flew our various journeys on the same mainstream airline.
*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.
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