Legal Nurse Consultant Training Course

Professional Development Course

This exciting program, in partnership with The Center for Legal Studies (CLS) by Barbri, prepares medical professionals for a career in the legal field as a legal nurse consultant (LNC). Building upon your medical education and clinical experience, this course provides registered nurses and physician assistants with fundamental skills necessary to advise law firms, health care providers, insurance companies, and governmental agencies regarding medically related issues, and to appear in court as expert witnesses. The course teaches legal concepts related to the health care industry, as well as the role a legal nurse consultant might play in litigation areas such as medical malpractice, toxic torts, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, criminal law, and workers’ compensation. Any RN or PA interested in entering the legal field can benefit from the education provided by this course.

This continuing nursing educational activity has been approved by the Colorado Nurses Association, an accreditation approved by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.  It includes 42 contact hours.
  • Medical professionals considering working as a full-time, part-time, or freelance legal nurse consultant
  • Medical professionals looking to increase their knowledge of legal terminology, medical malpractice and the evolving legal system
  • Medical professionals seeking to develop the skills necessary to enhance one’s medical legal consulting role
  • Medical professionals interested in expanding interests and skills for professional mobility and growth
  • Convenient online format
  • Participation with fellow classmates via message board discussions
  • Legal concepts related to the health care industry
  • The role of the legal nurse consultant in:
    • Medical malpractice
    • Toxic torts
    • Product liability
    • Personal injury
    • Wrongful death
    • Criminal law
    • Workers’ compensation

Your grade will be based on your completion of six tests and six bulletin board submissions.

Your final grade will be figured as follows:

  • Six tests worth 100 points each: 70 percent of your grade
  • Six bulletin board assignments worth 10 points each: 30 percent of your grade


Students must receive a 70 percent or better on every assignment to receive a certificate.

  • The role of a legal nurse consultant
  • The history and evolution of the profession
  • The two major systems of law
  • The three types of law
  • The four sources of law
  • The law of Intentional and Unintentional Torts
  • Liability concerns of healthcare providers
  • The role of the LNC before the trial begins
  • Methods of obtaining medical records and other evidence
  • The Rules of Evidence
  • Legal documents used to obtain evidence
  • Informed consent, treatments decisions, and the liability concerns of health care providers in each
  • Criminal law and complex litigation scenarios
  • History of the Specialty of Legal Nurse Consulting
  • The skills needed for entry into special practice
  • The standards of practice and performance expected of an LNC
  • The responsibilities of a LNC in the litigation process
  • The role of the LNC in evaluating Toxic Tort and Criminal Cases
  • The four types of damages available and the factors that determine their application to the case
  • The evaluation steps taken by the LNC in a professional negligence case
  • The three different forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • The LNC’s role in the law firm
  • Issues presented to LNCs in the insurance industry
  • Issues presented to LNCs in private practice areas
  • Issues presented to LNCs in Government Service
  • Issues presented to LNCs in Risk Management
  • Medical record analysis and LNC protocol for receiving medical records
  • Legal writing techniques to captivate your target audience
  • The literature research process and the methods of research
  • The advantages and challenges of working as an independent LNC