Remember when men wore suits to work? Those times seem so quaint. Nowadays, business casual is the standard in many insurance and claim offices; for which I say, Hallelujah.

Remember when the dividing line was clear between adjuster work and lawyer work? We all knew who did what and when. Adjusters handled cases so long as they remained claims. If a case entered litigation, the adjuster hired a lawyer. The division of labor seemed rational, sensible, and easy to follow.

Those lines can blur, however. At some point in their careers, risk managers likely will encounter claims for which they want to hire attorneys before the cases have entered suit. Such situations are the exceptions, not the rule. In a claim career, an adjuster handling losses will be lobbied by policyholders to hire lawyers while the cases are still in the claim, or pre-suit, stage.

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