Risk managers who also happen to be attorneys are not always protected by the attorney-client privilege, according to a recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In Casey v. Unitek Global Services, Inc., the court held that communications from a company’s risk manager were not protected by the attorney-client privilege simply because the risk manager also happened to be an attorney. Casey provides a good reminder for colleges and universities that have risk managers or similar professionals not to assume that communications from lawyers who may be acting in a non-legal capacity will be protected by the attorney-client privilege.

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