ABSTRACT
Since the inception of the specialty practice of legal nurse consulting and the term “legal nurse consultant” (LNC), there have been efforts to distinguish the identity of these nurses from others practicing in the nursing or legal professions. Both professions, other allied fields, and the public needed to understand the LNC’s role as a participant in the legal arena. Just as important, LNCs needed guidelines to practice ethically and successfully within this specialty practice of nursing.
This chapter provides an overview of the use of a code of ethics and a scope and standards of practice in legal nurse consulting. These published guidelines can be used by LNCs to steer practice activities and roles and by consumers of service to develop job descriptions, contractual arrangements, protocols, and performance evaluations.
