This article is being published in Texas Lawyer. So, I will go out on a limb and assume that you, the reader, are a lawyer. In which case, you (like me) were taught that it is illegal to practice law without a law license. If a non-lawyer hangs a shingle as a “Legal Consultant”—taking a fee or drawing a salary to make legal strategy decisions and/or dictate the course of litigation—he or she would be prosecuted. Yet, making legal strategy decisions and dictating the course of litigation is exactly what insurance adjusters—non-lawyers—do every day. It’s their job, and they do it at the rigid direction of their insurance company employers. As discussed below, whether and to what extent it should be their job is open for debate.

As a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer, I understand the tripartite relationship at the heart of the personal injury wing of our civil justice system. I understand that insurance coverage provides both a level of solvency and access to legal representation for people and companies who would otherwise have neither. So, what is the problem, why am I writing about it, and why is it a staff and captive counsel problem?

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