What is a Nurse Paralegal?

A nurse paralegal is a nurse with significant legal training who applies the skills and medical expertise of a highly trained and experienced nursing professional to become a unique and valued member of a legal team. Nurse paralegals perform many important functions critical to the legal process in both civil and criminal cases, such as:

• Interviewing clients and witnesses and investigating the facts of a case to ensure all relevant information is considered
• Reviewing, interpreting and analyzing medical charts, records and reports
• Performing medical legal research and investigation
• Assisting in the medical-legal discovery process, the discovery and preparation of evidence, including the preparation of interrogatories, depositions, and expert medical witnesses
• Assisting in the trial preparations and presentations including the technology of trial presentation.

Is a Nurse Paralegal also a Legal Nurse Consultant?

No. While some of the roles of a nurse paralegal and a legal nurse consultant do in fact overlap, there are some important differences.

Both careers are grounded in the discipline of nursing as it is the knowledge and experience of a practicing nurse that allows these highly skilled individuals to assist in a legal environment. The ability to perform the legal medical work comes first from the solid medical foundation of nursing practice. Preparing to be a legal nurse consultant or a nurse paralegal is a matter of individual choice. Legal nurse consultants usually assist in legal matters on an independent contractor basis, hired by contract on a limited basis for a specific task or a specific amount of time by a lawyer or legal entity. They perform valuable legal-medical services.

Nurse paralegals, however, have had significantly more legal training and are able to perform all of the tasks of an LNC as well as the tasks required of a paralegal. While trained nurse paralegals can function as or perform all of the tasks of an LNC, they are often found in full time positions in law firms, corporate legal departments, hospitals, government agencies and other legal entities.

Students who complete the online Professional Certificate Program in Nurse Paralegal Studies are prepared to pursue a career either as a Nurse Paralegal or a Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC).