In the health care industry the line between attorneys and risk managers is often blurred.  That’s only natural because a key duty of risk management is to avoid and mitigate legal liability.  And it’s increasingly common for risk managers to have law degrees and even to have previously worked as attorneys.

But a decision by a federal court earlier this week reminds us that although the line may be blurred, it still exists.  And an employee who is a risk manager is not an attorney, even if there’s a law degree hanging on her office wall.  That means that communications with the employee are not covered by the attorney-client privilege.

Unitek Global Services learned this the hard way.  Carolyn Casey earned her law degree long before joining Unitek, where she eventually became VP of Safety & Risk.  Her job included managing litigation of insurable claims against the company and attending quarterly litigation meetings with other executives.

When she filed a sex discrimination action against Unitek, the company moved for a protective order preventing her from using any privileged information.  Last Monday the court denied the motion, basically ruling that a lawyer is a lawyer and a risk manager is a risk manager.  And as for Carolyn’s management of litigated claims and interaction with outside counsel, she was acting as a client rather than an attorney.

The case is Casey v. Unitek Global, case 2:14-cv-02671-LS (E.D. Penn.).