Lawyer who is a nurse

[Ms Tusevljak]

what would we call a nurse who then goes to law school to back healthcare related fields up? i am almost finished with my bsn and i have been thinking of doing something with law as well?

[rocki718]

do you mean malpractice law?

[Ms Tusevljak]

Not quite, most of the time it would be just representing a nurse in any type of case, but If I were a nurse in court, I would want my lawyer to be a nurse as well so they know what is going on. Does that make sense? I have not researched it at all yet, it was just a thought.

[jstanrs]

I know several nurse-attorneys who limit their law practice to defending nurses before the board because they feel we are treated so poorly in that situation. I commend them.

[Ms Tusevljak]

I would love to attend law school after I complete my BSN. I wonder what the first step I should take is? I have worked with the directors of the hospital I work at and they would love to write my letters of rec.

[tokebi]

I wonder what the first step I should take is?

Start studying for LSAT?

[katkonk, BSN, RN]

You call them a lawyer. Anything else, as far as where you practice, is simply determined by who you want to work for and their focus. Unless you want a private practice. Just go through the steps as you would with any other degree when applying for law school.

[HamsterRN, ADN, RN]

There is a nursing specialty called "Legal Nurse Consultant", there is even an accreditation: CLNC (Certified Legal Nurse Consultant)

[Scrubby]

I've just started my Bachelor of Laws. I hope to one day work in medico-legal or risk management.

[GM2RN]

Not quite, most of the time it would be just representing a nurse in any type of case, but If I were a nurse in court, I would want my lawyer to be a nurse as well so they know what is going on. Does that make sense? I have not researched it at all yet, it was just a thought.

I get where you are going with this and it's a great idea, but truthfully, I'm not sure how much understanding you would have of the nursing profession if you only went to school but had no experience in nursing. And though you might be a competent attorney, as your client, I wouldn't be much impressed if you had never practiced as a nurse. I'd recommend you spend at least a couple of years doing bedside nursing first.

[nicole109]

I have a backround in medical malpractice, spent some time working as a paralegal there while in nursing school. We represented the hospitals, and we had 2 nurses in our office that spent their time prepping any nurses in the cases (they had other duties too). They were retired RNs, and they specialized in high risk areas (ie: NICU and L&D). None of our lawyers were previous nurses, but one of them was a pathologist. You still have to go through all of law school and get all of the training to do any type of law, sit for the BAR, etc.

A nurse legal consultant is entirely different from all of this (someone else mentioned this), they typically provide their expert opinion in a case. So, a lawyer or a client being sued, would obtain medical records or other facts, and compile them, sent them to the consultant and have them reviewed for a fee and then the consultant would come to court and testify on their behalf. They provide an objective outlook on the case based on the records/facts and compare it to current research, etc.

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

Try forensic nursing for a couple of years first; it will teach you a lot about the legal system in the real world. If you want to practice before the Board, you need some time as a nurse and I think forensic nursing would prepare you well. I've had several friends, good smart people, who became lawyers and left the field within a year because they became so disillusioned. Law school is a very very expensive "oops, I don't like this."