Paralegal

A paralegal is a non-attorney who works under the supervision of a lawyer whose work is usually billed to clients. Paralegals have many job duties, including drafting motions and subpoenas, document review, and filing papers with courts. Paralegals have traditionally dealt more with procedural law than with substantive law.

Nurse Paralegals

Because the essence of common law civil litigation is the "harm done," and many civil cases involve bodily injury, disease, or death, a specialized niche has developed in the paralegal profession for "nurse consultants" or "nurse paralegals." This is part of the overall crossover trend bringing medical professionals into the legal professions, for example, there are many doctors and nurses who have second careers as attorneys. Some law firms boast of having a doctor or even a surgeon (who is not an attorney) on staff and rarely, one may also find "doctor paralegals." This crossover trend does not appear to operate both ways, as there are very few people who were first attorneys or paralegals who have subsequently become doctors or nurses.

Related Topics:
Common law - Civil litigation - Law firms

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The essence of the "nurse consultant" or "nurse paralegal" specialty is that attorneys and law firms need someone who is experienced in medicine, familiar with the vast vocabulary of medicine from formal medical training, and the organization of medical records to examine the medical records and translate the medical information into terms that are meaningful to the attorney. Nurse consultants and paralegals also are able to identify key documents and evidence, and to deal more easily with medical care providers in obtaining the records, and the myriad laws governing medical records and confidentiality. Nurse consultants and paralegals are also able to communicate effectively with medical expert witnesses who are required in almost all cases to testify and help the court determine the true extent of the plaintiff's injuries and the defendant's alleged malfeasance.

Related Topics:
Medical records - Expert witnesses

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The primary difference between the terms "consultant" and "paralegal" in this context lies in the amount of legal education the person possesses. Those who are called nurse or doctor "consultants" usually do not have any significant legal education and are employed in-house by the law firm solely for their medical knowledge and certifications. Those who are called nurse or doctor paralegal will generally have some formal legal education as a paralegal (usually a minimum of a certificate or associates degree in paralegalism), though most of the work done by "nurse paralegals" has far more to do with medical records than with normal general paralegal tasks. And, of course, those nurses and doctors who have become attorneys have graduated from an accredited law school and obtained a license to practice law, so these people have been formally educated and licensed in both the fields of medicine and law.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~