While writing a Legal Staff Profile for LawCrossing.com, I discovered who Vickie Milazzo was, read her successful story, and instantly knew that sharing her experiences would help many nurses today. Milazzo herself has already been a big help to numerous nurses. The proof? The Vickie Milazzo Institute, which is one of Inc. magazine’s top 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America. The company not only helps nurses become certified legal nurse consultants, but it has become “nationally recognized by attorneys” and provides “the official certification of the National Alliance of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants,” according to the company’s website.
Regarding her decision to switch from working as an RN to become an LNC, Milazzo says, “I was instantly attracted to the relationship between nursing and law, and I knew that any nurse willing to do a bit of trailblazing could make a career consulting with attorneys. It only made sense that attorneys needed help from consulting experts behind the scenes, not just from testifying experts.”
But what exactly is a legal nurse consultant? According to aalnc.org, “The legal nurse consultant is a licensed, registered nurse who performs a critical analysis of clinical and administrative nursing practice, healthcare facts and issues, and their outcomes for the legal profession, healthcare professions, consumers of healthcare and legal services, and others, as appropriate. With a strong educational and experiential foundation, the legal nurse consultant is qualified to assess adherence to standards and guidelines of healthcare practice as it applies to the nursing and healthcare professions.”
So let’s look a what it takes to attain this prestigious position. The steps to becoming an LNC include earning your degree, mastering your nursing skills, honing your people skills, and attaining certification as a legal nurse consultant.
Step #1: Becoming a Legal Nurse Consultant Requires You to Earn Your Degree as a Nurse
Becoming an RN requires a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing from a four-year college. Milazzo earned her bachelor’s at the University of St. Thomas and her master’s of science in nursing at Texas Woman’s University. However, along with earning her nursing degree, Milazzo also earned her J.D. from the South Texas College of Law. As a legal nurse consultant, being familiar with both law and medicine is important, though not absolutely necessary. That said, Milazzo’s dual experience may have helped her land one of her first clients.
“I emphasized why a nurse was far better qualified than a law clerk to help with medical research,” she says, describing her response when a lawyer tried dismissing her. “He thought he could just use a law clerk.” However, as Milazzo explained to the attorney, “[I could] be more cost-effective because I knew how to zero in on authoritative and relevant medical resources. I also offered to do the first two cases at a reduced fee. He accepted my offer.” Not only that, but during the middle of the first case, he called and said, “Raise your fee back to the original quote. I had no idea what a nurse could do for me.”
Step #2: Becoming a Legal Nurse Consultant Requires You to Master Your Nursing Skills
According to bls.gov, “RN nurses treat patients, provide emotional support to family members, record patients’ medical histories and symptoms, help perform diagnostic tests and analyze results, operate medical machinery, administer treatment and medications, and help with patient follow-up and rehabilitation.”
For six years, Milazzo dedicated her life to nursing. She learned how to master the “fundamental skills of nursing,” how to make “split-second decisions that were the difference between life and death for [her] patients,” and how to “climb lots of hills and small mountains.” And because of this, she was well-trained to become a legal nurse consultant, and “through commitment, persistence, and emotional support from [her] family and friends, [she] was able to leave hospital nursing and become a full-time independent legal nurse consultant.”
Step #3: Becoming a Legal Nurse Consultant Requires You to Hone Your People Skills
Because legal nurse consultants work as “liaisons” between attorneys and clients, they need to have good people skills. Especially for Milazzo, who began her own business and had to create contacts all on her own, working well with people was a must. She had to know how to convince people to hire her, how to be flexible with lawyers, and how to sell herself. With good communication and people skills, Milazzo was able to go from having zero clients to having her own thriving business.
Step #4: Becoming a Legal Nurse Consultant Requires You to Become Certified
Not forgetting the woes of other RN nurses, Milazzo took her experiences and created, according to her website, the “[number one] bestselling educational program in the industry—the nationally recognized, trademark Certified Legal Nurse ConsultantCM Certification Program.”
“I want you to succeed,” writes Milazzo to her readers. “That’s why I still personally teach every CLNC® 6-Day Certification Seminar and the 40-hr CLNC® Home-Study Certification Program.”
Today, Milazzo is the founder and president of the Vickie Milazzo Institute, “the…oldest and largest legal nurse consulting training institute and the only publishing company exclusively devoted to this field.”
By becoming certified as a legal nurse consultant, you may earn up to $150 per hour.
Final Thoughts on Becoming a Legal Nurse Consultant
By studying the life of successful LNC Vicki Milazzo, those interested in becoming legal nurse consultants are just steps away from shooting to the top in their own careers. Once you’ve earned your nursing degree, have mastered your nursing and people skills, and have become certified as an LNC, you’ll be well on your way to earning more than $100 per hour.
