Consultations with attorneys as a funding source for drug information centers

The provision of legal consultations to attorneys as a method of generating income for a drug information center is described. The center established a formal, fee-based consultation service for lawyers after receiving several calls a month on a regular basis. During a six-month trial period, approximately 60% of the calls from lawyers were simple requests for information, such as the identification of a drug, drug dosage, or product availability. The remainder of the calls required formal written consultations, which had to be individualized to meet the attorneys' needs. The average length of these consultations was 2-3 pages including patient data, the request, response, conclusions, and 10-15 citations from the medical/pharmaceutical literature. No fees were charged for the requests that could be handled on the phone. For the preparation of a written consultation with references, the lawyers were billed +100/hr. Conferences with attorneys before preparing a request were also billed at +100/hr. If a deposition was required after the consultation services in the state's law journals and various legal publications. The majority of the attorneys who used the service indicated that they would probably use it again. The center found the provision of legal consultations to attorneys to be an effective mechanism for generating additional revenue.