MANOR COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL STUDIES
Legal Nurse Consulting Resource Center
Welcome to the Resource Center for information on preparing for a career in Legal Nurse Consulting.
For almost 20 years Manor College has proudly and expertly educated individuals to assist in the practice of law. Newest to this profession is the Legal Nurse consultant (LNC), a health care professional who uses his/her in-depth knowledge of both medicine and law to assist attorneys in the resolution of healthcare related legal issues.
As the only American Bar Association approved LNC program in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey, Manor College takes very seriously its responsibility to prepare students for the challenge of this exciting, new career.
It is the primary objective of Manor’s Legal Studies programs to provide students with an education that will enable them to effectively assist attorneys in all phases of private and public law practice. To achieve this objective each of our programs is designed to
-Develop in each student critical thinking and analysis skills;
-Enable each student to become an effective communicator through training in research, writing, listening and speaking skills;
-Make each student a competent legal professional by providing them with both theory and practical knowledge and training;
-Immerse each student in the study and practice of information literacy to; and
-Provide each student with a foundation in ethics and professional responsibility in order to enable them to recognize values and perform legal services in an ethical manner.
Using the links below you will be able to learn more about Legal Nurse Consulting and the educational opportunities that are available at Manor College.
Please feel free to contact the Legal Studies Department to discuss your questions, schedule an appointment or sit in on a class.
Diane Pevar
Director, Legal Studies
215-885-2360 ext. 259
dpevar@manor.edu
What is a Legal Nurse Consultant?
A legal nurse consultant, or LNC, is a registered nurse who possesses both medical and legal knowledge. This expertise is used to assist attorneys by evaluating, researching, analyzing and rendering opinions on the medical and health care aspects of their cases.
Although Legal Nurse Consultants have been in existence for the last 20 years, it is only in the last few that the profession has expanded and the need for formal education has become a necessity.
A Legal Nurse Consultant is not a paralegal. Paralegals apply broad-based legal knowledge to a variety of support tasks in order to assist attorneys in the practice of law. Legal Nurse Consultants combine their medical knowledge and experience with highly specialized legal training in order to resolve healthcare issues within the boundaries of the law.
Career Profile:
Originally legal nurse consultants were employed by attorneys to review and analyze medical records and perform limited medical research. Today, with proper legal training, the role of the LNC has expanded to include, among other tasks, drafting a variety of legal documents, providing litigation support, assessing issues of damages and causation, identifying and working with expert witnesses, and even assuming the role of the expert at depositions and at trial.
Law firms are no longer the sole employer of legal nurse consultants. A wide variety of employment venues are open to the trained LNC, including, government agencies, insurance companies, risk management, case management and life-care planning.
The health care industry now recognizes the value in utilizing legal nurse consultants. Many health care providers, such as rehabilitation companies, are seeking LNCs. When a nurse receives legal training, she becomes an asset to both her employer and the insurance company that provides the health care clients. Knowledge of the law is essential for every health care provider, as health care and law have become woven together in our health care system.
Hospitals and insurance companies employ legal nurse consultants in the area of risk management to aid in maintaining a safe environment and to prevent or reduce loss. The LNC’s legal training is invaluable in assisting in the management of difficult legal and regulatory problems.
Legal nurse consultants are also using their legal training to become involved in the area of life-care planning. A life-care plan is used to quantify the healthcare needs that have resulted from oftentimes-catastrophic injury or disability. The medical and legal knowledge possessed by an LNC can help her contribute to the creation of such a document.
What Professional Services Does the LNC Perform?
-Educating attorneys on litigation related healthcare facts and issues
-Reviewing, summarizing and analyzing medical records
-Researching and applying healthcare and nursing literature, guidelines, standards and regulations to the facts or issues of a case or claim
-Assessing issues of damages and causation
-Drafting legal documents in medically related cases under the supervision of an attorney
-Providing support during discovery, trial and other legal proceedings
-Developing collaborative case strategies with the legal team
-Witnessing independent medical examinations
-Identifying, locating and evaluating expert witnesses
-Developing and drafting settlement brochures
-Developing demonstrative evidence for use at trial (charts, models, diagrams)
-Testifying at depositions, hearings, arbitrations or trials as an expert healthcare witness
-Supervising and educating other nurses in the practice of legal nurse consulting
-Performing risk assessment
-Performing peer review
-Developing life care plans
LNC Programs at Manor:
The LNC Programs at Manor each consist of 21 credits and can be taken full or part-time.
Litigation Track
This program track is recommended for those LNCs who wish full-time employment in a law firm setting, or who wish to continue their careers in nursing while acting as an independent consultant to litigation attorneys
SUGGESTED COURSE SEQUENCE
First Semester:
CS 105 Introduction to Computers*
LN 101 Introduction to Legal Nurse Consulting
LE 206 Administrative Law
Second Semester
LE 103 Civil Practice and Procedure
LN 102 Legal/Medical Research
Third Semester
LE 201 Tort Litigation
LN 104 Legal/Medical Writing
* May be exempted through examination
Healthcare Industry Track
This program track is recommended for those LNCs who wish to seek employment in Risk Management, Peer Review or at the governmental level.
SUGGESTED COURSE SEQUENCE
First Semester:
CS 105 Introduction to Computers*
LN 101 Introduction to Legal Nurse Consulting
LE 206 Administrative Law
Second Semester
LE 103 Civil Practice and Procedure
LN 102 Legal/Medical Research
Third Semester
BA 218 Health Care Law
LN 104 Legal/Medical Writing
* May be exempted through examination
Course Descriptions:
(More detailed descriptions of each course are available through the college catalog)
Administrative Law (3 credits)
This course is designed to provide student s with vital information about administrative agencies, the law that governs them, and how they relate to and impact the healthcare profession.
Civil Practice and Procedure (3 credits)
A practical overview of the civil litigation system in the United States, this course will provide students with information on all phases of a lawsuit and the role that the legal nurse consultant will play in all types of private lawsuits.
Healthcare Law (3 credits)
Today’s healthcare system is impacted by governmental regulations, insurance guidelines, patient rights, and other legal issues. This course will explore these topics and provide insight into how a legal nurse consultant can work within the healthcare industry.
Introduction to Computers (3 credits)
This computer basics course will provide students with the technical knowledge necessary to use computers in representation of legal clients and in providing business services to the lawyers with whom the LNC works.
Introduction to Legal Nurse Consulting and Ethics (3 credits)
This course is designed to provide students with an overview of the American legal system and to explore the roles that the LNC will serve within that system. Medical and legal ethics will also be explored.
Legal/Medical Research (3 credits)
This skills oriented course will train students to perform legal and medical research, both in the library and through the use of computer assisted databases.
Legal/Medical Writing (3 credits)
This skills based course will train the LNC student to draft a variety of business and litigation forms that are vital to the practice of law.
Tort Litigation (3 credits)
This legal specialty course provides students with in-depth knowledge of personal injury law and its impact on the healthcare industry and healthcare related legal issues.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Can I continue to work in nursing while serving as a legal nurse consultant?
Many RNs wish to continue with their nursing careers and use their legal nurse consulting certificate to pursue independent consulting opportunities. Many such opportunities are available, as attorneys frequently hire LNCs on an hourly basis to review case files and give informal opinions. LNCs who act as independent consultants usually work from their homes or private offices and bill the attorneys they work with for services rendered.
In addition to providing expert advice to attorneys in connection with medical malpractice, product liability, or abuse cases, many LNCs consult in connection with the creation of life-care plans for clients who have suffered permanent catastrophic injuries.
2. What kind of full-time jobs are available for a legal nurse consultant?
More and more LNCs are being hired on a full-time basis by law firms, as part of the litigation support team, and by the healthcare industry to work in risk management and peer review. These full-time positions are salaried, as opposed to hourly compensation, and offer employment benefits.
3. What are the salary ranges for a legal nurse consultant?
LNCs who provide hourly services as independent consultants bill in the range of $100-$250 per hour, depending on their level of experience.
Full-time positions in law firms and industry range from $45,000-$60,000.00 per year for entry level LNCs.
4. Why do I need to get a certificate to be a legal nurse consultant?
When the career of legal nurse consultant began approximately 20 years ago, LNCs performed very limited services, usually “translating” medical records and organizing records and reports to help the attorney understand the medical treatment afforded his client. Today, well-trained LNCs are capable of offering attorneys a broad range of services, including medical record review, drafting of legal documents, rendering expert opinions, testifying in court, and the creation of life care plans, to name only a few. All of these skills, however, must be learned in an environment that offers legal training and expertise.
5. What placement assistance does Manor College offer its graduates?
Manor College offers personal placement assistance to all students. These services include assistance in drafting a C.V. (resume), counseling on how to find part- or full-time placement, and lifetime placement assistance.
6. I like what I’ve learned so far, but how do I get more information about this program?
Further information is available through the Manor College website at http://www.manor.edu/, or by speaking with the Continuing Education staff at 215-884-2218.
If you would like to sit in on a class, or if you have specific questions about curriculum or placement contact:
Diane Pevar, J.D.
Director of Legal Studies
215-885-2360 ext 259
dpevar@manor.edu