When companies and law firms turn to media relations and strategic communications agencies for advice, it usually happens at what they define as potential “turning points” for their client’s reputation.
For litigation, these turning points are:
- Their client is suing, and they have a date for a complaint filing.
- Their client just got sued.
- Their client has been sued or is suing, and there is a litigation milestone event in sight.
For non-litigation crisis, the turning points could be:
- They anticipate a potential crisis.
- They are fairly confident that a crisis will follow imminently.
- The crisis is ongoing, and they cannot manage the fallout or are not achieving what they set out to achieve.
The crisis and litigation turning points are not mutually exclusive – not every crisis is litigation, but every litigation should be treated as a crisis.
There are other turning points, but for the purpose of communications planning, these could be considered the most relevant and most actionable.
The communications strategy will always depend on what the law firm sees as a turning point, why, and what crisis management and litigation strategies they anticipate putting in motion. It also depends on the client’s reputation at present, their public profile, claims in the litigation or business individuals, and activities that are tied to the crisis. Last but not least, an effective communications strategy must be informed by what the opposing party is saying or not saying, in their complaint or to the media, partners, consumers, clients, and other stakeholders.
While there are many unknowns, crisis and litigation communications strategies are always bespoke. Here are some considerations for law firms tied to each turning point that will help them think through whether and when to hire a PR agency.
Pre-filing and crisis anticipation
Law firms that hire PR agencies before the filing arguably have the most control over the narratives that will follow in the media, and impressions formed by employees, partners, investors and competitors. This is because they don’t let others speak for them, they communicate the facts and context supporting those facts first. They are ahead of the game, and that alone will therefore inform and/or be included in all narratives and opinions that will follow.
Now, just because you have a communications plan before the crisis happens, it does not mean it’s time to be issuing press releases, statements, and doing interviews.
The purpose of strategic communications planning before filing a complaint or a crisis occurs is to anticipate questions, impressions, business impact, stakeholder actions, and be prepared to address them.
Note that “addressing them” does not always mean answering questions publicly or doing interviews. It means defining how to strategically engage with various parties, through pre-meditated scenarios, channels, and to anticipate outcomes. Only then can an agency advise on what would be said, how, when and by and to whom.
In summary, here are some benefits of creating a strategic communications plan before filing a complaint:
- Anticipate reactions and questions across stakeholder groups
- Conduct media and communications training
- Create protocols and procedures for receiving, assessing, and responding to questions
- Draft holding statements
- Identify the media who will likely cover the filing or another crisis event
- Decide on whether to engage with the media, how, when, and what to share
- Anticipate headlines that will have reputational implications for the company
- Define the best ways to communicate with employees, investors, partners, and deciding what to say, when, to who, and who should be the one to communicate
- Understand the potential progression of the litigation and communications strategies associated with each
Stay tuned for Part II, which will review communications strategies when your client has been sued, or another type of crisis is expected to follow imminently.