nursinglawbandit

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? 

Declined to Meet with a Prospective Client and His Mother

The more you practice you can pinpoint those cases that you will regret taking or the one's that you say "I knew better." When you are new and growing your practice you take on those cases for the challenge, sometimes and most time for the additional income.

Several years ago I would have taken this case but not now. This is my 11th year of law practice, 7 years as solo and I get a "gut feeling" when there is going to be trouble with a representation.

A mother contacted me about representing her son, who is studying for his RN Boards. The son did not disclose a criminal conviction to the Board as required. I agreed to meet with the mother and son asap. The son is an adult in his early twenties. The mother contacted me several times after I spoke with her initially and several times the next day, just a few hours before the consultation.

When I spoke with the mother, she was agitated and asking me for legal advice about how her son should proceed. I indicated we are meeting soon and we can discuss this. The mother became agitated and informed me "I wasn't answering the question asked."

I informed the mother I was not available for the consultation or representation and that she could have the son contact me and I would refer him to another licensure defense attorney. I abruptly ended the conversation with the mother.

I have this issue now in case where a parent wants to be overly involved in the legal representation and I have to remind the parent that I represent the nurse regardless of who pays for my representation.

I declined to meet with the prospective client and his mother. I can imagine this parent calling me two or four times a week for case updates in an administrative law case and second guessing my legal advice and counseling provided to her child. No sir re bob, not me. Been there, done it and not doing it again. Its not worth it!

As a self-employed nurse attorney and small business owner, of course I could use the money generated from the legal consultation and/or representation. But I decline.....

Payment for Services

I should have known better. I did several hours of consulting work on a case for a large teaching university in December. I submitted my invoice in January 2008 electronically. Fast forward to April 2008 and I still have not been paid.

I assumed because this was a large teaching university and I could submit my bill electronically that I would receive prompt payment. My idea of prompt for a large institution is 15-30 days. Its been 90 days. I varied from my normal routine in this particular matter of requiring a true retainer. I don't utilize traditional retainers in my law practice.

It won't happen again.

Ancillary Businesses for Attorneys & Law Firms

There is an interesting article on the ABA Journal Law News Now website about law firm ancillary business practices. See http://www.abajournal.com/news/law_firms_selling_off_ancillary_businesses/.

In addition to having a law firm, I also have a consulting firm, The Healthcare Risk Aversion Group, LLC that offers medical-legal consulting services to the healthcare community. I offer legal CE for nurses and expert witness services.

While I have no plans to sell off or dissolve my consulting firm, the far majority of my time is spent practicing law and not consulting. When I started my LLCs in 2001, I assumed that it would be my consulting practice that took off and blossomed, not my law practice.

My bread and butter is my law practice and my representation of nurses before the Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana Boards of Nursing. I do have a few ideas for my consulting practice that I plan to launch in 2008 and pitch to hospitals and other large nursing employers.

I launched the Ohio Directing RN and LPN-IP Professional Services Contract in 2007 through my consulting firm.

The headache associated with an ancillary practice is navigating the ethical canons and complying with the attorney marketing and advertising rules. The same rules that apply to law firm marketing apply to ancillary businesses owned by attorneys.

Job Market for Attorneys and Law Students

The Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119040786780835602.html  article on the job market for law students and attorneys is creating a buzz on legal blogs.

The article warns that most attorneys don't make an entry level salary of $120,000 to $160,000 seen with large law firms in the larger cities. The article also states that some law school graduates are having a hard time finding legal employment, some of the employment is as a contract attorney with no benefits, and most law graduates are graduating with student loan debt from undergraduate and law school in the tens or hundreds of thousand dollar range.

I borrowed more money than needed to attend nursing and law school because of necessity. I was a single mom but in hindsight I still should have borrowed less. I borrowed less than $50,000 combined for both my private nursing education (Xavier University) and public law school education (University of Cincinnati). One of my financial goals, is to pay off my consolidated loan in 5 years.

If you combine and defer your undergraduate and law school loans, PLEASE consider paying on the interest; that's what kills you and keeps you awake at night because in a matter of years, $75,000.00 can turn into $110,000 easily.

I was clueless when I attended law school from 1994-1997. I didn't know anything about the job market and I was told to clerk at the largest firms that I could because I had the grades. I just knew I wanted to be a nurse attorney and help nurses. I clerked at two large law firms my first and second year of law school and worked for another law firm after graduation for almost two years. Did you clerk during law school? What was your experience?

I determined early (1st week of my 1st year clerkship) that I didn't want to work in a large firm, but the salary was nice and I needed the money and the experience.

I am a solo now and I celebrated my sixth year in solo practice this year. The job market for attorneys and law students is what you make of it. 

You have a J.D. and depending upon what you majored in undergrad or your employment before, during, and after law school, you can leverage your knowledge, skill, and abilities to create your ideal position. Most folks want things handed to them and this surprises me even as a Generation Xer.

This is my ideal position being a home health RN, solo attorney, and consultant. I am self-employed and I network, market, and advertise to create additional opportunities in the future.

What is your ideal position?

Nursing Law Experts and Nursing Experts

An article in the August 30th edition of the New York Lawyer (you must register online to view the article) mentioned that Intellectual Property (IP) experts generally command $250 to $450 an hour. Some of the more renowed and qualified IP specialists command $10,000 a day ($1,250 an hour for an eight hour/full day of work) and at least IP specialists commands $2,000 an hour. See http://www.nylawyer.com/display.php/file=/news/07/08/083007h

What are nursing experts, nursing specialists, nurse consultants, and nursing law experts commanding for hourly rates? I see ads that mention a LNC can earn anywhere from $75.00 to $150.00 an hour. As an attorney I have reviewed a number of contracts for nursing consultants and have seen hourly rates from $150.00 to $250.00 depending on the education, expertise, and experience of the nurse.

Most of the legal work in my law firm is based on a flat fee. However I must admit, I have been fascinated by hourly fees and hourly billing here lately (as indicated by the number of posts on hourly fees and billing this month).

Do You Blog? If not, then at least build a website

I am surprised that more nurse attorneys, especially those of us who are solo practitioners and practice in the licensure defense area don't have a blog or a website. A website should be a minimum with a blog being optional.

I always ask nurses who contact my firm how did they hear about my law practice. I receive a significant amount of contacts from nurses in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana who found my website, www.nursing-jurisprudence.com and who then read my blog, www.advocatefornurses.typepad.com. I receive referrals from state nurses associations, advertisement, nurses who have read an article or heard me speak at a conference, etc.

I maintain my own website with www.networksolutions.com. I use www.typepad.com for my blog. I know another nurse attorney who uses www.blogspot.com. See www.nurseattorney.blogspot.com which is Texas Attorney Taralynn Mackay, RN, JD's blog covering nursing issues, risk management issues, license defense and the law.

I change the format, colors, and design of my website and blogs as frequently as I change hair styles (okay not that frequently). This is the freedom that comes along with owning your own business and doing it your way.

I didn't pay thousands of dollars for someone to design my website or blog. I rather spend that type of money spoiling myself or my dogs, my only child, or my nieces and nephews.