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From the President's Desk

Searching for a legal nurse consultant?

The attorney should look for a nurse who has at least 5 years of clinical experience. A successful legal nurse consultant is analytical, organized, and can communicate well. Since nurses are often involved in patient education, we are able to use these teaching techniques to assist legal personnel in comprehending medical issues. The attorney should look for a nurse with the initials of LNCC after his or her name. Our certification process, which meets the rigorous standards of other professional nursing associations’ certification processes, is geared to the nurse with expertise in this field, and confers the initials “LNCC” for “legal nurse consultant certified.” In order to sit for this examination, the legal nurse consultant must have performed 2000 hours of consulting in the previous 3 years and have 5 years or more of clinical nursing experience.  

Watch Pat explain the role of an LNCC on TV!

A legal nurse consultant is not a paralegal. Paralegals assist attorneys with all aspects of litigation, not necessarily confined to cases with medical issues. Legal nurse consultants may do some of the tasks that paralegals perform, such as organizing medical records and doing timelines, but the medical background of the nurse is valuable in different ways. The legal nurse consultant will help the attorney by spotting the information in the medical record that has direct bearing on the lawsuit. We may be involved in any aspect of litigation when medical issues have to be identified, such as personal injury, medical malpractice, workers compensation, products liability, employment law involving healthcare professionals, or toxic tort claims. Legal nurse consultants also work with attorneys who handle criminal or matrimonial cases-in short, whenever there is a need to serve as a bridge between law and medicine.

Patricia Iyer MSN RN LNCC is a Past President of the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants and the chief editor of the second edition of the Principles and Practices of Legal Nurse Consulting. See also the AANLC Certification Board's position statement on certification.