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October 13, 2019 by courtdeadlines Leave a Comment

The Role of the Nurse Legal Consultant in Personal Injury Matters

The Role of the Nurse Legal Consultant in Personal Injury Matters

Nurses with an interest for both medical and legal issues may be a great asset for law offices–particularly those handling personal injury matters. Whether you are on the defense side or the plaintiff’s side, your practice can benefit from the advice of a good legal nurse consultant.

Legal nurse consultants use their healthcare knowledge in conjunction with an interest in the legal system to offer unique and valuable insight in this combined profession.

Legal Nurse Consultant

Legal nurse consultants are commonly called by both defense attorneys and plaintiff’s/prosecutors for their forensic or pharmacological familiarity to help determine difficult criminal or civil cases. More commonly, legal nurse consultants consult with attorneys and others in the legal field on medical malpractice, personal injury, workers’ compensation, and other healthcare-related cases. These legal specialists are responsible for interviewing clients, reviews medical records, researches and summarizes medical literature, helps evaluate liabilities and damages, assists with depositions, prepares exhibits, and identifies and retains expert witnesses. They are also incredibly useful for doing medical chronologies during fact investigation.

Legal nurse consultants are registered nurses who have previously worked in emergency rooms, or in other disciplines, who then take on focused training at legal nurse consulting schools. These schools offer on-campus or online nursing degree coursework in legal ethics, personal injury cases, forensic science, and legal writing to name a few. There are also dedicated classes in legal issues about medical malpractice, auto accident injury, lower back pain, and product liability.

Certified legal nurse consultants are regularly contracted to work with private attorneys and corporate lawyers. However, many find work outside the courtroom. Some take positions with hospitals, insurance companies, and government agencies. Many are hired to help provide quality assurance at pharmaceutical firms and chemical companies. About half of all legal nurse consultants work on staff at law firms, insurance companies and other institutions, and their salaries are often comparative to those of hospital nursing administrators. The other half of legal nurse consultants work independently.

The use of legal nurse consultants is expected to increase as more and more companies introduce medications and devices that are federally approved, or reviewed in the courtroom or by government agencies. While formal training in legal nurse consulting is not required, training and educational programs are available at universities, community colleges, and other private and public institutions.

Filed Under: Blog, Case Management

January 19, 2019 by courtdeadlines Leave a Comment

Make Sure Your Trial Notebook Includes These Things

Make Sure Your Trial Notebook Includes These Things

Your trial notebook is your blueprint of your case and your road map for trial.

You should begin preparing your trial notebook from the very beginning of your case. If you’re on the plaintiff’s side, this means you’ll start preparing your trial notebook before you even file your petition or complaint. And if you’re on the defense side, you should start putting together your trial notebook as soon as you receive a copy of the petition or complaint.

Your ultimate goal in preparing this trial notebook is to have every relevant part of your case organized and crafted into the story you plan to present a judge or jury at trial.

How to Prepare a Trial Notebook

How do I prepare a trial notebook?

Start building your trial notebook by gathering the following:

1. A three-ring binder for 8 1/2 x 11” paper (legal-sized paper is less common and can be folded to fit inside your binder). If you choose the kind with a clear plastic sheet on the front or back, you can change the cover sheet as needed and reuse the binder for subsequent cases.

2. Paper for a cover sheet. Place the case caption and any other useful information here and slip the cover sheet into the clear plastic sheet on your binder.

3. Colored Tabs. Tabs will help you organize the different sections of your trial binder.

4. Highlighters. Use these to highlight any pertinent information within the contents of your binder.

What sections to I need in my trial binder?

The layout and content of your trial binder is ultimately up to you. One of the first steps is to develop a theme for your side of the case. Your theme is the central story that you want a judge or jury to hear. You will develop that theme with evidence and witnesses as your case progresses through investigation and discovery. If your state has pattern jury charges, these can be an excellent resource in helping you know what issues need to be addressed and what ultimately must be proven at trial.

An associate or paralegal can help you gather the material you plan to use at trial. Generally, you will want to include the following:

  • A pleadings section containing copies of all complaints/petitions and answers that have been filed in the matter. Placing these items in reverse chronological order will help you keep the most pertinent material in the front. You may even include any motions in limine and other motions you plan to argue at trial, as well as outlines of the arguments you plan to make.
  • Copies of any investigative materials that are central to the case. If this may be too voluminous (as can be the case in matters with substantial medical records), you can include copies of key materials and summaries of the voluminous material. Or you can create multiple binders.
  • Witness lists (including contact information) as well as copies of witness statements and deposition testimony that may come up at trial.
  • Copies of all documents you intend to introduce at trial or that may be used as rebuttal evidence. As noted above, if this is too voluminous for your trial notebook, you might include summaries containing exhibit numbers instead. At the very least, include a copy of your exhibit list with columns for (1) the exhibit number, (2) a description of the exhibit, and (3) whether the exhibit is admitted or rejected.
  • Legal authorities, including statutes and case law that is relevant to your case. You should have a grasp of the important law early in the case. Include copies of any case law, statutes, and regulations that help guide one to the answer of the legal issue(s) in your case.
  • Copies of major motions and court orders, including any scheduling order.
  • A timeline for the case that outlines the dates (and, if necessary, times) that significant facts occured.

Here are a few other ideas of sections that might go into your trial notebook:

  • Trial Team Contact Information
  • Initial Case Assessment/Evaluation
  • Proof Outline
  • Damages Outline
  • Pleadings
  • Investigation Materials
  • Witness Statements
  • Witness Outlines
  • Discovery
  • Deposition Transcripts/Designations
  • Discovery Motions
  • Motions
  • Case Law
  • Statement of Facts
  • Exhibit List
  • Objections to Exhibits
  • Direct Examination Outlines
  • Cross Examination Outlines
  • Deposition Index and Outlines
  • Opening and Closing Statement Outlines
  • Voir Dire Outline
  • Jury Charge
  • Trial Briefs
  • Pre-Trial Motions
  • Trial Motions
  • Post-Trial Motions

If you utilize your trial notebook wisely, your case might even settle beforehand because your opponent can see that you are prepared to try the case.

Filed Under: Blog, Case Management Tagged With: litigation, trial, trial preparation

November 30, 2018 by courtdeadlines Leave a Comment

How to Compute Deadlines Using Microsoft Outlook’s Built-In Date Calculator

How to Compute Deadlines Using Microsoft Outlook’s Built-In Date Calculator

calculate court deadlines in outlook

If you are like most attorneys, you’re spending a good amount of your day in front of your computer. And unless you’re using a Mac or you have a preference for open source software, you probably have Microsoft Outlook open at any given time.

Whether you are part of a busy, thriving law firm or a newly-minted law office, it’s imperative to stay organized and timely. Missing an upcoming deadline can lead you to big trouble with the court and/or your client. It might surprise you to learn that Microsoft Outlook can be a valuable tool for keeping up with deadlines and court dates.

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Microsoft Outlook has an excellent built-in tool that can help you stay on top of your deadlines. That tool is the built-in date calculator (although we’d love it if you bookmark our page and use our calculators).

I started this blog to help lawyers keep up with court deadlines by sharing information about books that can help them research procedural deadline issues quickly and efficiently. When you know the deadlines, then you must know how to calculate them and keep track of them (case management software can help you with that).

Let’s say you just received discovery requests in a case. You know you have 30 days to serve objections and responses, so you open up your calendar and start counting through the days.

Microsoft Outlook can automatically calculate that deadline for you, so long as you use the correct wording.

All you have to do is go the Tasks list and open up a new task. Mine is located here on the bottom right side of my Outlook window. Double click the field captioned Type a New Task.

 

The Start Date field should automatically populate with the current date. Below that, you will see the Due Date field. In order to calculate a deadline 30 days from today, you will enter “today +30 days” in the Due Date field. You can change the number of days to whatever number meets your deadline criteria.

calculate deadlines in outlook

 

Once you’ve done that, Outlook will automatically populate your new due date.

calculate deadlines in outlook

 

Viola! Using this automatic date calculation feature in Microsoft Outlook will help you keep up with your deadlines.

Filed Under: Case Management, Shortcuts, Tips & Tricks

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Disclaimer: The information presented on this site is for educational purposes only. Always check the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or your state’s rules, if applicable, as well as any local rules or scheduling orders that might apply to your case.

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