Akerman Healthcare Litigation Team Co-Leads Noam Fischman and Ayman Rizkalla recently shared their thoughts with industry publication Healthcare Risk Management on when risk managers should connect with outside counsel.

The article notes that those responsible for managing an organization's legal needs can sometimes be hesitant to call on outside counsel because they don't want to seem in over their head or to have misjudged the significance of a matter. Fischman told the publication having an established relationship with quality outside counsel can remove that hesitation.

“We encourage risk managers to have a relationship either internally with their own counsel or externally with your chosen counsel so that they know your business. They know how you operate, and they know your political considerations,” Fischman told the publication. “The conversations can be quick. If you have any questions, it’s worth a quick phone call, but you have to trust that your lawyer is not going to turn a quick phone call into something more to generate time and hours.”

“A lot of these hospitals are understaffed, so law firms can throw a lot of resources at the issue, addressing it much, much faster,” Rizkalla said.