How to break into the field of Legal Nurse Consulting

BrokenRNheart · Jul 23, 2008

Don't count on making a living at it.

Wasn't all they said it was cracked up to be.

You can try with just your experience and market yourself....of course you will invest before you earn.

Not a BIG market for this. Most of those nurses have "real" jobs.

I went to Kaplan University and then got paid $25 an hour - I pay taxes - to do a class action defense case.

Again......like finding the needle in the haystack. No, unlike hospital nursing jobs, there won't be an abundance to pick from. You will invest yourself, time, money and what ever to actually do it.

$$ logo

$$ stationery

$$ promotional

$$ advertisement

$$ mail to reach potentials

$$

And......most lawyers have the people they need so free-lancing doesn't bring in much - realistically.

Unless you are lucky enough to snag into a firm that hires and there isn't much of that.

Another pipe dream.

RN1989 · Jul 23, 2008

There is a need for LNCs but it is not like walking into a hospital and having them drag you inside and offer you a position. Most attorneys do not know or do not think that they need an LNC. It is the LNC's job to educate the attorneys on why LNCs are needed and what the LNC can do for the attorney.

There are inhouse jobs for LNCs within law firms but they are not widespread.

Most LNCs work as independent business owners or subcontract for other LNCs. LNC work is obtained by you busting your buns to find the work and bring it in.

Most people who fail to become full time LNCs fail because they do not plan well and have poor follow through. Nurses are accustomed to having jobs handed to them. Marketing your skills to attorneys is so different from nursing that the nurses give up before they ever get started. Most nurses are not business oriented and this plays a big part in their inability to get steady work. This also plays a large part in their dissatisfaction with taking LNC courses and why they believe that they were lied to about LNC work.

These days it also takes more money to compete in the field if you do not have the networking contacts to get you the work.

No, it is not stable work. The work is what you make of it.

Editorial Team / Admin · Jul 23, 2008

Hello, ann1978, and Welcome to allnurses.com

Good to have you with us.

Yes, there are many of us who are successful as LNCs, but as RN1989 pointed out, it takes a lot of hard and diligent work to be successful.

One thing that I always advise the RN when they are considering this career path is what motivates them to choose Legal Nurse Consulting? Is it because they think it's a "get rich quick" career? Are they just grasping at straws to find anything just to get out of bedside nursing?

You need to really weigh the pros and cons of this career path. Yes, it takes a lot of time and effort to break into the career. It is, especially up front, expensive to get your marketing package up and running as professional as you can do it. That takes time, effort, and money. Do not cut corners.

Most nurses are not business oriented and this plays a big part in their inability to get steady work. This also plays a large part in their dissatisfaction with taking LNC courses and why they believe that they were lied to about LNC work.

This is so very true. Many enter into the profession and become greatly disillusioned when the huge promises of, “making hundreds of dollars without much effort", are not realistic.

So, in saying this, I wish you well in your considerations; bear in mind, I am not trying to discourage you, just trying to get you to really examine your reasons to enter into this career path. Research the career and ask anything that you wish here at allnurses.com.

Good luck.

BrokenRNheart · Jul 24, 2008

"It is, especially up front, expensive to get your marketing package up and running as professional as you can do it. That takes time, effort, and money. Do not cut corners."

The reality and biggest drawback for me. I have had my own business but it was something that grew from word of mouth.

This is definitely about money and marketing yourself and pushing yourself out there. Without money, can't do much of that. Starting with a logo.....quotes for the price of that put a dead stop on that idea. Then pricing stationery and printing and postage and so on.

I, personally don't care for the work to invest into it that much. Then my first job, we were all taken advantage of at $25 an hour and only able to bill for about half of what you did. Owed taxes in the end. Their 25 minimum hours of work was more like 50 and by then you had no other time.

I have noticed a lot of LNC's that still work as nurses and don't do much with the LNC.

Yes, you do have to educate lawyers - but that statement alone says a lot. Are there lawyers out there that you can educate? My other finding is that they don't want to part with money to pay for your services or they already have the experts they need. So the need for you becomes slim.

If you are all set to spend, promote and market, you might make some money - maybe break even or more. But you will spend just as much time marketing as you do consulting and that didn't excite me.

Yep, I wanted to find openings and get a job. Not much market I learned. I thought about marketing but it was exhausting both time and money. Have to deal with what is realistic to you. First I have to make the money to invest, then I don't have the time to invest. It's not like I am sitting on some extra cash and don't have to work so I have all this time to invest in it. I wish I would have spent that money on something that would have actually landed me a "job." While there are so many areas of nursing, the easiest to find is hospital jobs the rest are not so easy and not always better.

Takes experience to get into L&D. I would have loved that. Never got that break I needed. Never right place right time.

Stuck in rut of floor nursing. Little homecare.....wasn't so profitable. Lots of hours and miles. Not nearly as stressful but oil changes on the car and miles added up.....plus wear on tires and all.

Hospice.....but that has changed a lot.

I am simply burned out. But that is what statistics prove.....burn out from current nursing conditions. I'm on that list.