Career Option for Struggling Lawyers: Get a Nursing Degree

I know
May 11, 2009 4:11 PM CST

If you want to work as a nurse, then go to nursing school.  But don’t go to nursing school thinking that you’re immediately going to become a nurse-lawyer/consultant.  Being a nurse-lawyer/consultant is going to require credibility which comes from experience.
And as for getting work as a nurse-lawyer/consultant ... when I worked in litigation, my firm got peppered with resumes and brochures from legal-nurse-consultants who were eager for a piece of anything.  Heck of a lot of ‘em out there already, so unless you have your plan in place for how & why you’re going to be better than all the ones out there already, it doesn’t come across as a realistic goal to say you’re going to be a nurse-lawyer/consultant.
However, if you’re just looking for a job and have another couple of years and many K to spend on tuition, by all means, go to nursing school, become a nurse.  Work shifts, wear scrubs, be on your feet for many hours straight.  But at least there are jobs out there for nurses.

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B. McLeod
May 11, 2009 10:54 PM CST

As I read these posts, I am nursing a Young’s Luxury Double Chocolate Stout.  I don’t suppose I could have a degree for that.  As I remember, my old Dean of Students (undergrad) always seemed to be expecting me to qualify for three at some point, before we parted ways.  I must have lost track of one somewhere along the way.

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James
May 12, 2009 6:15 AM CST

It’s exactly what I’ve been takling about in other posts.  The proliferation of crappy T4 law schools has made it so that anyone, no matter what your cradentials, can get a law degree.  Whereas nursing schools cost significant money to run, so there aren’t as many thus making competition enough to weed out the chaf. 

However, if you think nursing is the key to a guaranteed job, you’d be wrong.  While nurses are “in demand” according ot most career websites, there’s a trend toward using less qualified physician assistants to perform nursing tasks rather than actually trained nurses.  Many of the so called nursing jobs available are for home-health care aids.  Most nurses I know don’t want to go that route.

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Edie Brous, RN, Esq,
May 12, 2009 7:06 AM CST

I agree with LaTonia.  Go to nursing school because ou want to be a nurse.  Lawyers who attend a nursing program may be surprised to find the curriculum as or more challenging than what they experienced in law school. Nursing is not a Plan B career - it requires genuine commitment and involves serious responsibility.

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James
May 12, 2009 10:48 AM CST

Ya, this is about as stupid of a post as the ABA has ever done. 

In other news, if you’re currently unemployed you should consider getting a second JD from Bumblef**k University (or whatever that new lawschool they’re planning in New Hampshire).  According to the ABA having multiple JD’s will help you get job easier.  Employers will be wowed by your twin degrees.

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Carolyn Rosenblatt, R.N., B.S.N.,Attorney
May 12, 2009 12:53 PM CST

Those who have commented that you shouldn’t go to nursing school unless you want to be a nurse are telling it like it is.  For those with the fantasy that this is a great idea to make good money, that’s partially true.  Nurses are a lot better paid now than ever, and they deserve every penny.  Here’s the real deal folks:  nursing is extremely difficult.  Having been through both careers (I’m now on my third as an elder mediator and consultant), I think it’s more difficult than practicing law. Lives are literally at stake.  You have to really want to do it, really be willing to undergo the stress and really be committed to nursing to succeed. If you thinking of getting into nursing for the money, you will likely fail.  They can’t pay you to care about your patients.

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Anne
May 14, 2009 1:01 PM CST

Suppose someone is a nurse and due to injury isn’t able to meet the physical demands of the job anymore. How much additional education would she need to get before she could do this kind of consulting?

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