Written By: Andrea Barnes
Edited By: Kelly Lance RN, BSN, CNLCP

Four attorneys were interviewed with the questions: What are you looking for in a Life Care Planner?, What are your expectations in hiring a Life Care Planner?, and What is the best way for a Nurse Life Care Planner to get your business? The four respected personal injury attorneys were represented equally from the plaintiff and from the defense side.

In personal injury cases, Attorneys are looking more consistently to Nurse Life Care Planners to testify as expert witnesses. Defense attorneys seek Nurse Life Care Planners who research and prepare realistic Life Care Plans and who are able to convince all involved as to the validity of the Life Care Plan. They hire Nurse Life Care Planners who invest the time for thorough research, contact all relevant medical personnel and capably defend each recommended expenditure. A good defense Nurse Life Care Planner is able to thoroughly analyze and combat the plaintiff’s evidence. Nurse Life Care Planners should exhibit themselves as experts and make a confident impression in depositions and in trial with the jury. The Nurse Life Care Planner should have enough relevant experience to identify questionable or non-realistic numbers from the plaintiff Life Care Pan. Plaintiff attorneys seek experienced nurses who can fully understand the effect of a devastating injury and be able to project the outcomes for the future.

Attorneys are looking for specific qualifications on the CV of the Life Care Planners they hire. Universally, the attorneys interviewed seek Life Care Planners that have nursing degrees. Clinical experience dealing with individuals who are severely injured enhances a Nurse Life Care Planner’s expertise. However, one plaintiff attorney suggested that he often seeks a Nurse Life Care Planner with clinical experience in specialized fields depending on the case. For example, if there is a heart case, he’ll seek a nurse that has cardiac experience. Most of the lawyers agreed that experienced clinical nurses make strong Life Care Planners because they know the doctors, they are well informed about the current standards of care and can expertly interpret medical records. Certifications lend credibility to the Nurse Life Care Planner and are an important component in convincing a jury.

Nurse Life Care Planners seeking to build a career in the field need to be aware of rigorous expectations about their services in a law suit. Some attorneys will engage the services of a Nurse Life Care Planner as soon as the attorney is hired for the case. While it may take a number of months for the case to become active, the attorney will forward the plaintiff’s information and the plaintiff’s Life Care Plan to the Life Care Planner as soon as it becomes available. Attorneys expect the first draft of the Life Care Plan to be prepared within 30 to 45 days of hiring the Nurse Life Care Planner. This provides time for rebuttal and ensures that the plan is completed well in advance of the trial. Defense attorneys expect the Life Care Planner to critique the plaintiff plan item by item and provide a side-by-side comparison. The defense attorneys, in most cases, also expect a Life Care Plan exhibiting only the defense recommendations. Flexibility is important. The Nurse Life Care Planner should expect to attend required meetings and trials dates and be available 24/7 when it is necessary. Nurse Life Care Planners should always be professional in their demeanor and appearance.

Plaintiff Attorneys seek Nurse Life Care Planners that are proactive. The Nurse Life Care Planner should ask when each item is due and be prompt in providing the necessary reports. Nurse Life Care Planners should know and understand the local medical facilities and the availability of the community services. The Life Care Plan should be an honest assessment of the true needs of the patient. Absolute, incredible detail in the report is requisite. The report has to be factual and defendable—no assumptions. More and more, Life Care Planners will be called upon to be educators in the courtroom and in the deposition. They will need to be able to explain forecasted procedures from surgery to home health care and be able to “sell” the necessity of the recommendations to the jury.

Attorneys reported that they are more regularly hiring a Nurse Life Care Planner. In the past, Life Care Planners were hired in only the largest, most severe cases. More frequently, Nurse Life Care Planners are hired for nearly every personal injury case. If attorneys have had a good experience with a consultant, they will use the same person again. One attorney suggests that a Nurse Life Care Planner only needs one decent lawyer to like you as an expert witness and the rest of the cases will come from word of mouth.

When seeking cases, Attorneys suggest that is appropriate for a Nurse Life Care Planner to write a letter of introduction. A stronger approach is to socialize or to find ways to interact with lawyers who do the heavy-duty trial work so that the Nurse Life Care Planner can develop a personal relationship. Other attorneys suggest that they will only hire Nurse Life Care Planners who are members of the American Association of Nurse Life Care Planners (AANLCP). Many attorneys hire experts after reading a Life Care Plan on another case. Attorneys also suggested that a personal website is critical in getting business so that the Nurse Life Care Planner can be easily found. Attending conferences is another way to network. David Woodruff, a plaintiff attorney, recently spoke at an AANCLP conference and met many nurses that he would consider using for upcoming cases.

All the Attorneys agreed that they would consider hiring nurses that are new to the Life Care Planning field if the nurses could demonstrate expertise in a relevant field for the case and could provide a well-developed Life Care Plan for the attorney’s review. The Life Care Planners’ confidence in their presentation of their qualifications as an expert witnesses to a lawyer will help to indicate their presentation and demeanor in trial.

Special thanks to the attorneys that were interviewed. The Defense attorneys who participated in the interview were David Slagle and David Williams of Snow Christensen & Martineau, located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Plaintiff attorneys who participated were David Woodruff of Hillyard, Wahlberg, Kudla & Sloane, located in Englewood, Colorado, and Jeff Gooch of The Gooch Firm located in Salt Lake City, Utah.