Personal Success Stories

I was ready for a change…
Joan Magnusson, BSN RN LNCC

I attended the first AALNC conference and was intrigued…
Joan Miller, MSN RN CCM CRRN LNCC

It began with simple chart reviews and interpretation…
Karen Fox, BSN RN LNCC

A want ad that intrigued me…
Jane Mihalich, BSN RN LNCC

I had finally found what I wanted to be when I grew up…
Sheila S. Webster, BSN RNC LNCC

The future is unlimited…
Dena Matthews, RN BSW

I was ready for a change…
Joan Magnusson, BSN RN LNCC

In 1982, I was working as an infection control practitioner for a large teaching hospital/tertiary care center. The hospital's risk manager asked me if I would join his office staff and develop a new position as a nurse investigator for his department. Since I have never been shy about taking on a new project, especially when it offered an opportunity for a new challenge, I jumped at the chance.

I spent the next five years learning everything I could about risk and claims management. I gained experience in communicating with all levels of corporate healthcare, which gave me new insight into the care and safety of patients.

By the beginning of 1987, I felt it was time to stretch my wings beyond the confines of the hospital setting. An attorney with whom I had worked closely in evaluating and defending claims against the hospital had formed a law firm dealing primarily with medical malpractice litigation. We began to discuss his goal of hiring a full-time nurse to evaluate potential claims and work with him on the investigation and pursuit of cases. I was intrigued with the concept evaluating the merits of a claim to deter "frivolous" lawsuits and assisting with the pursuit of "legitimate" claims of patients who had been hurt due to negligent care. In June 1987, I took the next step and went to work full-time for the firm.

The next year was a rough time of transition, but I was never bored and often challenged. Feeling isolated from my peers was my biggest frustration. I knew of only two other nurses working in law firms in my area. In 1990, one of them sent me a brochure for the first annual AALNCconference. I was so excited to learn that there was a national organization for nurses in this field! I went to that first conference in Phoenix, AZ and met four other nurses from the city where I work! While it was ironic to travel 1500 miles to meet nurses from home, it was more of a shock to find out that I wasn't alone: I thought I had "invented" legal nurse consulting in 1982!

From that day I have supported AALNC's efforts to set standards of practice for legal nurse consultants, write a core curriculum for the specialty practice, and develop a certification process. In 1997, I volunteered to chair AALNC's certification board, the American Legal Nurse Consulting Certification Board, under whose auspices the first Legal Nurse Consultant Certified (LNCC®) examination was offered in October 1998.

I still work for the same law firm I started with in 1987. I marvel that I have stayed one place for so long. I believe much of this is due to the attorneys' support of my participation in AALNC. As much as I, they have benefited from the opportunities that AALNC has given me to grow both personally and professionally.

I attended the first AALNC conference and was intrigued…
Joan Miller, MSN RN CCM CRRN LNCC

I relocated to Phoenix from California in 1988 after working in an acute rehabilitation facility. When I moved, a friend asked me to assist her by case managing her patients in Arizona. I agreed and was on my way to becoming a case manager. I wasn't sure at that point what I wanted to do, but thought I might like to have some type of independent practice.

I attended a one-day seminar on legal nurse consulting and discovered there were several nurses in the Phoenix area who were starting a professional association for legal nurse consultants (AALNC). I attended the first AALNC educational conference and met other legal nurse consultants in Phoenix who, on the basis of my rehabilitation nursing experience, asked me to assist in file reviews, prepare life care plans, and provide expert witness. I was on my way.

I started working out of my spare bedroom with an electric typewriter and small copy and fax machines. Eventually, I hired a part-time secretary, bought a computer, and moved into a second bedroom. I eventually hired more staff and moved into a regular office. Twelve years later, I have my own case management and legal nurse consulting business, and have three nurses and one secretary working for me.

I have been an active member of AALNC since its inception and take great pride in that association. I have watched it grow from a good idea to a highly reputable organization. I have been the treasurer of our local chapter and now I am a member of the certification board. The professional and collegial relationships I have developed with other legal nurse consultants through my association with AALNC have benefited me personally as well as professionally.

It began with simple chart reviews and interpretation…
Karen Fox, BSN RN LNCC

After five years of clinical nursing practice, I began my LNC career in 1982 at the Attorney General's (AG's) Office for the State of Oregon. At that time, the AG's office represented all the health care providers at the Oregon Health Sciences University, the state college health clinics, and the state prison system whenever malpractice actions were brought against them. It was the first time a nurse had been hired to assist the attorneys with the defense of the state's medical malpractice cases, so the role evolved over time. It began with simple chart reviews and interpretation, and soon involved medical research, attending depositions, trial preparation, etc. Following a move to Portland in 1985, I created a resume that showcased the skills that I had acquired at the AG's office. I marketed myself to the top four insurance defense law firms and was granted interviews at each one. I found a good fit at a medium-sized firm where I worked as a nurse consultant for eight years on medical malpractice, product liability, and personal injury cases. During that time, I had the good fortune to learn a great deal and to make many contacts within the community.

When I attended my first AALNC conference in San Francisco, I had been working in this non-traditional field for years, feeling isolated and alone. There were very few nurses working in law firms in Portland, and fraternization was discouraged. When I heard the wonderful speakers at that conference and spoke with the other attendees, I thought to myself, "I've found my people!"

I have felt that way ever since. At that 1992 conference I met three other nurses from Oregon, and we began getting together for collegial support on a quarterly basis. That small group has since grown into the more than twenty members of the Greater Portland Valley Chapter of AALNC.

Through networking with the insurance companies who were clients at the law firm, I began to understand that there was a market for my services as an independent consultant. With the encouragement of other pioneering LNCs who had formed their own businesses, I began my own legal nurse consulting practice in my home in 1993. Since that time, the business has become more sophisticated and diversified: The Medical Resource Network, Inc. now supports eight employees. Opportunities abound for LNCs to create broader and deeper roles for themselves. We are limited only by our own lack of vision and creativity.

A want ad that intrigued me…
Jane Mihalich, BSN RN LNCC

The year was 1992 and we had just moved to a new area of the country. I was going to enjoy having some free time, until I happened to see a want ad that intrigued me: "Attorney seeks RN to review cases in office. No legal experience necessary, will train." Within a week I had been hired to work for a plaintiff's medical malpractice attorney.

I was the first nurse to work for this firm and found myself trying to define my role as I learned the job, with varying degrees of confidence and success. When a neighbor heard what I was doing, she showed me a brochure she had received from AALNC. I can't tell you how excited I was to learn that there were other nurses working in the legal field, and that there was a professional organization to which I could look for guidance and camaraderie.

Within a month I had joined AALNC and was looking forward to the national conference in Chicago. It was everything I had hoped for and more. I have attended almost all of the conferences since then and I learn something new each time. The people I have met and the friendships I have formed are invaluable. AALNC provided me with the framework in which I have come to understand my role as an LNC.

I became active at the chapter level and was concerned by the varying degrees of competence and professionalism in the nurses who seemed to drift in and out of the field. In order to distinguish myself and affirm the level of competence I had attained, I decided to sit for the LNCC® certification exam offered by AALNC.

I was proud to achieve that certification, and have since become active in encouraging other LNCs to do the same. This is the certification that matters. Although I frequently find myself explaining the significance of the LNCC to attorneys and other LNCs, they readily understand the concept of an exam that is certified by the American Board of Nursing Specialties as being our equivalent of "board certified".

Since beginning my career as an LNC in 1992, I know I've come a long way; the LNCC credential reaffirms that.

I had finally found what I wanted to be when I grew up.
Sheila S. Webster, BSN RNC LNCC

My LNC story starts in August of 1993. I had just returned to work as a labor and delivery staff nurse following the birth of my second son. As much as I loved the patient care and the stimulation of working in a high risk perinatal center, the hours, the low morale, and the restructuring of nursing care in our facility was killing me. I signed up for a legal nurse consulting seminar and less than halfway into it, I knew I was hooked. I felt like I had finally found what I wanted to be when I grew up.

After completing the training program, I had some luck getting interviews at law firms, but the salaries were so low that I accepted a position as a claims analyst at a malpractice insurance carrier. I was determined to learn as much as I could at the insurance company and set up an independent LNC practice in two years.

Even with hours of training seminars and a "certification", I soon found that I had only taken the first step up the incline of the learning curve! But learn I did--not only about the legal and insurance aspects of medical malpractice, but also more about medicine and nursing, especially causation. When I finally left the insurance company to launch my business, I felt like I had gained ten years of experience in legal nurse consulting in a two-year "crash course."

During this time I was involved in my local AALNC chapter and watched with interest as AALNC's core curriculum, "Legal Nurse Consulting: Principles and Practice," was written and the LNCC® certification exam was developed. I was still unsure about the need for certification, even up to the moment at the 1998 national conference in Dallas when I was persuaded to sit for the pilot certification exam.

The pilot test was an eye-opener; a true exercise in critical thinking. I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the exam, and I didn't hesitate for a moment when it came time to apply for the "real thing." I knew this was a credential I wanted and would value. It didn't matter to me that my clients might not yet understand the significance of these new initials, because I had proven to myself that I was capable of giving them the quality of work that they deserve.

More and more, attorneys understand the benefits that LNCs bring to the litigation team. Just as with other nursing specialty credentials, our potential clients and employers will soon have enough experience with LNCs to see the difference that experience and the proven ability to apply medical-legal concepts correctly makes; the very attributes demonstrated by the Legal Nurse Consultant Certification (LNCC®) credential. I use these initials with pride and relish the opportunities I have to explain their significance.

I will maintain my LNCC-it is a part of my professional identity. And hopefully, when those who know my work see those same initials elsewhere, they will immediately recognize that they are dealing with a "Specialist" in our field.

The future is unlimited …
Dena Matthews, RN BSW

I am finding that as attorneys experience services of an LNC, the more they expand their use. They often call on me for assistance in ways that are both new and challenging. For instance, I am now developing settlement brochures for one of my most active client firms, working alongside the attorneys with support from the legal assistants.

More and more firms are also using my nursing case management skills in catastrophic liability/personal injury cases, first as a forensic case manager and then as an LNC in the development of the case. It seems to me that an independent LNC is limited only by what she is willing to do, and capable of doing well. Informed attorneys are recognizing the real value of the competent, creative, successful LNC.