What Else Is Out There? Legal Career Alternatives, Part XVI – Insurance & Risk Management

To say that insurance and risk management careers are booming is a decided understatement.  The number and diversity of law-related jobs is very large and growing, even in the face of a down economy.  Correspondingly, the demand for attorneys to fill these positions is high and becoming more intense, as employers discover that JDs who serve in these capacities bring both a strong skill set and work ethic to their jobs.

What’s Going On?

The Insurance industry is doing very well, and is virtually assured of continuing to thrive regardless of the ups and downs of the global or national economies.  This is, in part, due to the aging of the population—in America, more than 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day.  That kind of unprecedented demographic explosion puts a great deal of pressure on insurers.  Claims skyrocket.  More people go on disability. 

In the healthcare realm, the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. “Obamacare”) is imposing a host of new regulations and compliance requirements on insurers, with more to come next year and especially in 2014 when many of the Act’s major provisions kick in.

Underwriting has become more infused with law, especially in arenas such as professional liability and environmental liability.  Consequently, there is an industry trend in favor of taking attorneys and training them to serve as underwriters.

Risk management, in some respects the other side of the insurance coin, has become a central job critical to every company and many nonprofits, such as hospitals and academic institutions.  Today, approximately 25 percent of all of the risk managers in the U.S. have a law degree.  Moreover, many employers send their risk managers to law school in order to obtain a JD.

Employers know that attorneys make good risk managers because the law requires risk assessments on a daily basis.  By the time a law student graduates from law school, s/he has been steeped in risk management without really knowing it.

Risk managers come as close to being indispensable employees as anyone likely can.  They have to become familiar with which organizational closets harbor skeletons and where the corporate bodies are buried in order to perform their jobs effectively.

Representative Job Titles

You will see from the lists below that Insurance job titles predominate.  But that does not mean that Risk Management is a poor stepchild within this law-related career sector.  Quite the opposite is true.  While there are many more jobs in Insurance, Risk Management is no slouch.  While both categories are growing—and growing impressively—risk management is experiencing somewhat more rapid growth than insurance.

Insurance

• Bankruptcy Claims Examiner
• Casualty Claims Specialist
• Civil Service Retirement Claims Examiner
• Claims Legal & Regulatory Compliance
• Claims Representative/Manager
• Commercial Claims Specialist
• Dependent and Estates Claims Examiner
• Document Compliance Specialist
• Environmental Claims Specialist
• Errors and Omissions Claims Manager
• General Agent
• General Claims Examiner
• Health Benefits Program Analyst
• Health Care Policy Analyst
• Health Insurance Specialist
• Health Plan Member Services Coordinator
• Insurance Agent (Life, Health & Disability)
• Insurance Agent (Property and Casualty)
• Insurance Claims Representative
• Insurance Consultant
• Insurance Fraud Investigator
• Insurance Licensing Administrator
• Insurance Licensing Consultant
• Insurance Market Conduct Examiner
• Insurance Officer
• Insurance Policy Analyst
• Insurance Services Practice Group Head
• Insurance Specialist
• Issuing Specialist
• Liability Claims Analyst
• Litigation Examiner
• Litigation Manager
• Loss and Damage Claims Examiner
• Medical Malpractice Claims Analyst
• Pension Investigator
• Personal Trust Product Manager
• Professional Liability Claims Analyst
• Professional Liability Insurance Marketer
• Professional Liability Underwriter
• Recovery Manager
• Social Insurance Administrator
• Social Insurance Claims Examiner
• Transportation Claims Examiner
• Unemployment Insurance Administrator
• Veterans Claims Examiner
• Workers' Compensation Claims Examiner
• Workers' Compensation Program Specialist

Risk Management

• Crisis Manager
• Risk Analyst
• Risk Manager

Selected Credential Enhancement Programs

Insurance

• LOMA—Associate, Insurance Regulatory Compliance® (AIRC)(online) 
• American Educational Institute (online)

Casualty Claim Law Specialist
Property Claim Law Specialist
Workers Compensation Claim Law Specialist
Fraud Claim Law Specialist
Automobile Claim Law Specialist
Casualty Claim Law Associate
Property Claim Law Associate
Workers* Compensation Claim Law Associate
Fraud Claim Law Associate
Automobile Claim Law Associate

Risk Management

As a field matures, the more it breaks down into more specialties.  Risk Management is a perfect example, as evidenced by the specialized credentialing programs included in the following selected list:

• Kaplan University—Risk Management Certificate (online)
• American Hospital Association Certification Center—Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (online)
• American Institute for CPCU & Insurance Institute of America  

Associate in Risk Management (ARM)

Associate in Risk Management for Public Entities (ARM-P)

• American Society for Healthcare Risk Management—Barton Certificate Program in Healthcare Risk Management
• Boston University Distance Education—Online Graduate Certificate in Risk Management and Organizational Continuity (online)
• Global Association of Risk Professionals (online)

            Financial Risk Manager Designation

            Energy Risk Professional

            International Certificate in Banking Risk and Regulation

• Institute of Consumer Financial Information—Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist
• Institute of Risk Management—Certificate in Risk Management
• Mountain States Employers' Council—Workplace Risk Management Certificate Program
• Open Compliance and Ethics Group (online)

            GRC Professional Certificate

            GRC Fellow Certificate

            GRC Auditor Certificate

            GRC Technologist Certificate

            GRC Executive Certificate

Professional Risk Managers International Association—Professional Risk Manager PRM™ Certification Program

Project Management Institute—PMI Risk Management Professional (online)

Stanford University—Certificate Program: Strategic Decision and Risk Management

University of Florida—Graduate Certificate in Health Care Risk Management

University of Maryland—Graduate Certificate of Professional Studies in Food Safety Risk Analysis

University of Houston Bauer College of Business—Energy Risk Management Certificate

Organizations You Can Join

• American Society for Healthcare Risk Management
• Association of Insurance & Risk Managers
• Global Association of Risk Professionals
• International Association of Risk & Compliance Professionals
• National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors
• Nonprofit Risk Management Center
• Professional Risk Managers International Association
• Public Agency Risk Managers Association
• Public Risk Management Association
• Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc.
• Risk Management Association
• Society of Claims Law Associates
• State Risk and Insurance Management Association
• University Risk Management & Insurance Association

Next: What Else Is Out There? Legal Career Alternatives, Part XVII – Intellectual Property