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
ü Develop in each student critical
thinking and analysis skills;
ü Enable each student to become an
effective communicator through training in research, writing, listening and
speaking skills;
ü Make each student a competent
legal professional by providing them with both theory and practical knowledge
and training;
ü Immerse each student in the study
and practice of information literacy to; and
ü 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.
Return to Table of Contents
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
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Contents
LNC Programs at Manor
The LNC Programs at Manor each
consist of 21 credits and can be taken full or part-time.
v
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
v
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
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Contents
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.
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Contents
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 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
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Contents