Increasingly, legal battles are being fought – and won – in the court of public opinion, long before lawyers see the inside of a courtroom. Without a careful and coherent litigation communication strategy, even legal victory can be prohibitively costly in terms of company or product reputation.
An effective public communications strategy must be coordinated with the legal strategy. Weber Shandwick’s litigation communication practitioners are uniquely sensitive to the concerns of in-house and outside counsel, and develop communications strategies that support and enhance the company’s legal strategy.
The firm’s litigation communication specialists have a wealth of journalistic, legal and public affairs experience. They know how:
- Lawyers work and think, and are experts in the protocols of building a legal case.
- Newsrooms operate and are skilled in persuading reporters to bring balance into their coverage.
- Editorial page and op-ed page editors think, and how to craft messages and articles that fit editors’ style and content requirements.
- Reporters build stories and how to provide them with accessible and usable legal information.
The team’s specialty is translating the arcane, confusing and complicated elements of legal actions into messages that are heard, understood and remembered outside the courtroom.
Services include earned media, ally development, strategic advice, branding and marketing, crisis management, media relations and training, contact building, and new media.
Practice members are frequently retained by the legal team itself – in-house or from the outside. Depending on the jurisdiction, their strategic advice may be privileged as a result.
In the UK, Weber Shandwlck also provides media relations and marketing advice to a wide range of law firms, barristers’ chambers and legal organizations.