LNCtips.com: A Day in My Law Firm

New legal nurse consultants sometimes ask me what a typical day in my law firm is like.  The answer is...There is no typical day!  However, I do some tasks frequently.  If you're interested in working at a law firm (or if you're just curious about what I do all day), take a peek.

As I said, there is no "typical" day, and LNCs function differently in different law firms.  The normal hours for the defense law firm where I work are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, but I'm an early bird, so I work from about 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  The first thing I do is turn on my computer and check my emails.  If there's nothing urgent, I review my caseload and prioritize my day.  Occasionally, an attorney will ask me to do something STAT, but usually I prioritize the work on my own.

I determine my work for the day based on case status.  I give high priority to events such as upcoming depositions, mediations, presuit deadlines, and trials.  To find out when these types of events are scheduled, I check the attorneys' calendars at least once a week.

I work primarily with five attorneys and cases are in all stages of pre-litigation and litigation.  Usually five to ten cases are set for trial.

The firm keeps both printed and electronic copies of every medical record.  I prefer to use the electronic format to link all my files to my work product.  I spend a big part of each day analyzing medical records, radiographs, pathology slides, medical bills, and/or insurance records for some of my cases.  Some LNCs let records sit for weeks or months.  I try to review all records as they arrive in our firm.  Depending on the volume and importance of the records, I might analyze records for just one or two cases in a day.  On the other hand, I might analyze the records of six or seven cases in a day.

I rarely review medical materials as a singular activity.  As I review, I generate reports related to the information I'm analyzing.  For example, when I'm analyzing medical records, I create or supplement a medical chronology, medical summary, timeline, and/or treater list.  If plaintiff compliance is an issue, I'll develop a calendar of all instances of non-compliance.  I also create indexes of radiographs and pathology slides as I review them.

Whenever I finish my record analysis for the day, I save my new or revised work product on my firm's network so that it's available for attorneys and others to read.  I also compare my treater list to the subpoena log for the case and ask the attorney's paralegal or secretary to subpoena newly identified treaters.

In addition to record analysis, I work with experts every day.  I research the background and testimonial history of the opposing side's experts as well as the ones I'm interesting in retaining for my cases.  Almost all of my experts are physicians because almost all of the firm's clients are physicians.  Sometimes I spend a great deal of time locating experts; sometimes the attorneys prefer to work with someone they know from previous cases. 

After I locate experts, I communicate with them to determine their availability to review the case.  When I first started as an LNC, contacting experts always meant phoning them and playing telephone tag for days.  Nowadays, I always start with an email and ask the expert to call me.  I have found that nearly all my experts respond to emails quickly.  I often get a response within minutes of sending my request.

Researching their backgrounds and locating experts is just part of my interaction with them.  After I retain experts, my secretary sends them appropriate medical records, x-rays, etc.  After the expert has had a chance to review the information, my secretary schedules a telephone conference between the expert and me.  Sometimes the attorney joins me, sometimes not.  We digitally record the telephone conferences for internal use and an outside company transcribes the recordings. There are at least two to three experts from different specialties for each of my medical malpractice cases.  However, we have up to five or six experts for some cases.  When I first started this job, one of the hardest things for me was keeping track of all the experts.  My secretary and I eventually developed tracking  and tickler systems to help with this task.  Our systems indicate which experts we need to schedule conferences with and what materials we've sent to each expert for every case. 

And speaking of secretaries, I couldn't live without my full-time secretary.  She organizes all the medical records, drafts letters, schedules telephone conferences, copies records, mails or electronically sends medical materials to experts, and generally makes my day run smoothly.

I keep an internet browser open at all times to ascertain unfamiliar medical abbreviations and terms and to check treater credentials.  Throughout the day, I also confer with attorneys about the status of cases.  Throughout the day, I also bill each completed task using ABA billing codes.

There are also things that I do regularly, but not daily.  These include meeting with clients, medical research, drafting affidavits, setting up new cases, and preparation for mediations and trials. 

Whew!  It's 4 o'clock.  It's time to go home!

...Katy Jones