nursinglawbandit

How are you holding up in this economy?

Its scary out here for professional services firms. As a solo, with a part-time legal assistant (who happens to be my sister) I am holding up okay. Business is actually increasing in my licensure defense practice.

I am continuing to market. I just finished a working draft of the 2009 Business and Marketing Plan for my law and consulting firms.

What are you doing differently now compared to last year?

Are you scared? I am not. As a RN (with recent home care nursing experience) in Ohio and a licensed attorney in three states I have employment options and this is comforting. My fiance is a licensed barber and his business is remaining steady throughout these turbulent times. We are both self-employed and plan to remain so throughout the R-word.

Are law firms laying off attorneys and support staff in your area?

Are You a HENRY?

HENRY is a High Earner Not Rich Yet worker. See this article. http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/24/magazines/fortune/tully_henrys.fortune/index.htm

HENRY's earn between $250,000 to $500,000. This of course can be total household income. Most HENRYs are professionals with graduate education, high salary company positions, or self-employed.

This article puts a face on HENRYs however it may come off to some as being elitist or snobby, when you earn 250-500k a year but say you don't have. Well, the more money you have and earn, the more you spend; its the American Way.

Barbara Bonar, the Kentucky Bar Association President Facing Ethics Probe

The president of the KBA, Barbara Bonar is facing an ethics probe and this case is receiving national and local press attention.

We know, yes, you are presumed innocent until found otherwise but at what point should an officer of the court who is leading a state bar association resign? Do you stay and fight the good fight until the bitter end and remain in office despite it all or do you step down and place the integrity of the Association, its members, and the public above all?

If you were the State Bar president and being investigated and your case was receiving national and local press attention would you remain the Bar President? What's better for the President as an individual may not be the best and most rational course for the Association and its members.

See these links:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081012/NEWS01/810120454

Make sure you read the comments at the end of the first article.

http://abajournal.com/news/ky_bar_president_faces_ethics_probe_linked_to_fee_dispute_in_priest_case/

See also this post, by a Kentucky attorney commenting that Bonar should stay in office (she was President Elect).

http://www.kentuckylawblog.com/2008/03/ethics-kentucky.html

Perspectives: A Magazine for and about Women Lawyers

ABA Commission on Women in the Profession is sponsoring this quarterly magazine.

I enjoyed the article on dual degrees. I regret not completing my MSN while in

law school. I was completely burned out and needed to start working as a was

being labeled a "professional student" by family and friends. The years when I

initially started my firm would have also been a nice time to attend graduate

school for a Masters in Nursing since my practice was slower.

http://www.abanet.org/women/perspectives/enews/summer08/enews_summer08_feminism.html

See http://www.abanet.org/women/perspectives/enews/summer08/enews_summer08_feminism.html

ABA Releases A Study on Legal Malpractice Claims

See

http://www.abanet.org/abanet/media/release/news_release.cfm?releaseid=469.

The Study can be purchased for $80.00 at

http://www.abanet.org/abastore/index.cfm?section=main&fm=Product.AddToCart&pid=4140044.

I am superstitious, I will admit. I still do a number of the things when I see a black cat (bad luck) and I never walk underneath a ladder (bad luck), or place my purse on the floor (you will lose your money or have financial issues).

I am knocking on wood now in my office but I have never been sued for legal malpractice or nursing malpractice or had a complaint filed against me as an attorney or a nurse.

I had a client this summer threaten to report me to the Bar because I termed her and she was very upset. Being an administrative law attorney, I have to take steps to w/d consistent with the rules/code/canons (I practice law in 3 states), however I don't have to apply to the court before I cease representation of a client. I always follow a process before terming a client and 99% of the time it is because I am not being paid as agreed pursuant to the legal services agreement.

Actually now, I have two Nursing Board cases that have been resolved very favorably for the clients (Advisory Letters; no discipline proposed against the license) and both nurses have not paid their accounts in several months. I won't get the money and I know it. That's fine.

I won't sue for fees because as a nurse I could not imagine suing another nurse even in a business transaction. That's just me.

But guess what if you were investigated once by a Nursing Board, chances are at some point in the near future you will have another legal, regulatory, professional practice, criminal, employment, workplace, or licensure issue. I am unavailable until the initial account has been paid in full and I have my legal assistant provide the nurse with the local bar association attorney referral number.

Would You Pay $1,000.00 for CLE and training?

What is the most you would pay to attend a one day training seminar? Just registration.

What is the most you would pay to attend a two day training seminar? Just registration.

Whether or not it would lead to business and legal or consulting work in the future is just one of the considerations for me. I am considering attending a two day healthcare advanced mediation and healthcare arbitration training program. The cost just to register is $1000.00. For registration, hotel, car rental (I am not driving my boat to Chicago) and gas (its 5 to 6 hours drive from Cincinnati to Chicago), I would spend between $1800 to $2100.

I have wanted to attend this training for sometime (at least 5 years) however it bothers me to spend this kind of money on CLE and training. The firm's money is my money and I typically don't attend high priced CLE events.

The training would be beneficial to my law and consulting practices and would without doubt generate business and marketing opportunities for me.

What would you do?

I am An Attorney therefore should I become accustomed to lies, deceit, and deception?

I am frustrated because I have several cases where I suspected a nurse had a chemical dependency however the client denied a dependency issue. These are licensure defense cases where I am representing a nurse before the Board of Nursing based on a complaint filed against her/her license.

How do you deal with clients who provide you false, inaccurate, or untruthful assertions and information?

I will ask bluntly, how you effectively and adequately represent, counsel, and advise a liar?

Everyone is human and we all do things we regret and make mistakes.

What pisses me off are clients who lie to me and I am their attorney of record. There are so many others a client can lie to like their significant other, spouse, parents, children, etc., so why lie to your attorney when its my job to represent, counsel, and advise you in a legal matter that impacts your license, live, and your livelihood!!!!!!!

I apologize for this rant. I was reared and I am a Baptist. I am not religious but I believe in God. I was not allowed to even use the word "lie" until I was 18 and even now my grandmother still looks at me funny when I use the word. My grandmother always told us there is nothing worse than a liar and a thief.

Maybe I am being dramatic as my 19 y/o son tells me I am a drama queen but I am upset about a particular case where a client's untruthful assertions have caused significant harm to his case and I would have represented, counseled, and advised him differently IF he gave me the "skinny" earlier.

Does being an attorney or a defense attorney mean that you have to become accustomed to lies, deceit, and deception? 

Practicing Law and Something Else

I love the Complete Lawyer!

There is an article in the latest edition about practicing law and finding your passion in the practice of law. http://indiana.thecompletelawyer.com/volume4/issue5/article.php?ppaid=11127

When I started practicing law 11 years ago, I was told "you have to be a nurse or an attorney, you cannot do both." I don't like being told I can't do something, I guess its the Gen X in me.

I practiced as a RN one weekend a month while I worked in a law firm firm. After I left the firm and started my own law and consulting practices, I continued to practice as a nurse. I was told again "you can't have a law practice and a consulting practice, the division will not work." You are either an attorney or a consultant. Oh, really...

I built my law practice around my passion, which was advocating for nurses and some 7 years later, I have the law practice I dreamed about. It hasn't been easy starting a niche tri-state law practice from scratch but it has been worth every single minute invested. The long hours, the travel, the writing, etc.

I work full-time defending nurses in licensure matters and counseling and advising nurses in professional nursing practice matters. I also consult for a national nursing professional association on legal projects. I enjoy writing and I have multiple opportunities to write and publish now. I enjoy presenting and speaking to nurses on legal topics and I have the opportunity to do this also.

If I have figured out anything in my brief 11 years of law practice and 15 years of nursing practice, its plot your own course and practice. Listen to the advice of others but dare to be different and dare to be you.

Are You a Certified Specialist in a Specialty area of the law?

Are you a certified specialist in a particular area of law?

Does it help with marketing?

Does your state even allow certified specialists?

Do you recommend being a certified specialist?

Ohio Consumer's Practical Guide to Managing a Relationship with a Lawyer

The Ohio Supreme Court is seeking comments on this proposed guide. The comment period ends September 24, 2008.

See

http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/RuleAmendments/Default.aspx