Tennessee W. Walker is a partner and head of litigation at Patterson Law Group. He is based in Fort Worth, Texas. Courtesy photo Justice Eroded: The Disappearing Power of Staff and Captive Counsel
Ask your staff and captive counsel friends who outranks who: The attorney or their adjusters?
July 19, 2023 at 02:06 PM
8 minute read
Expert Opinion
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.
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