How to Get More Attorney Clients: Approach Attorneys at Conferences

One of the most frequent questions I receive is how legal nurse consultants can get more attorney clients. Nurses who have completed their LNC training as well as LNCs are various stages in their business development ask me about how to build their client base. I asked Wayne Schoeneberg, a seasoned trial attorney, about his recommendations. Wayne was my guest in a podcast. You can listen to his full answer here.

Get More Attorney Clients Through Attending Seminars

Wayne recommends the first thing that you need to do is carefully pick your market and do some research. What kind of legal nurse consulting do you want to do and in what geographic market do you want to practice? Are you focused on a local market where you are seeking to get more attorney clients, or on a national one? Do you want personal injury cases or product liability ones? How focused are you?

Let’s say for example that you’re living in St. Louis and you want to be a legal nurse consultant. Go to some bar meetings to meet attorneys. There are seminars going on constantly. You can find this information out through the Missouri Bar webpage. This technique will apply to all the states.

There are seminars aimed at personal injury attorneys, product liability, medical malpractice and a variety of other attorney specialties. Some programs are specific to a type of case, whereas others are more general and focus on the broader topics related to practicing law.

Start by finding out where those are and attending those. Go to where the meeting is, have some business cards and introduce yourself to some of the attorneys there.

Figure out who is handling the kind of cases with medical issues. Attorneys really don’t understand until they have been introduced to legal nurse consultants what a legal nurse consultant can do for them. Attorneys are suspicious kind of people. If you go up and hand them a card, and tell them that you’re a legal nurse consultant they’re going to be probably a little standoffish.

They are afraid you’re going to sell them something, so let them know what the problem is that you’re going to solve for them. A better approach when talking an attorney is to ask about what type of law he or she practices, and to show interest in that person. Ask about the challenges that they face related to medical cases. This conversation probes for their “pain points” – what they get frustrated about. Listen carefully to their responses so you can use their words:

“You are frustrated by trying to read electronic medical records? I can reduce your frustration by giving you a summary of what is in the records so you don’t have to wade through them.”

Suppose a lawyer is handling personal injury work. You can be a great service to this person by sitting down and reviewing the medical records. You know what you do, but they need to know that. They need to know that you are going to save them time. Be careful about promoting yourself using the broad phrase that you can save them money. Be clear about what that means within the context of the type of law the attorney practices.

When you are looking to get more attorney clients, be specific about how your skills blend with theirs and allow them to focus on other aspects of the case.

Pat Iyer MSN RN LNCC has presented medical information to attorneys at national and local trial lawyer conferences. She knows that meeting attorneys at conferences is a great way to build a business.