Think Lawyers and PR People Don’t Mix? Here’s the Recipe.

When a crisis strikes, the first move of CEOs is sometimes to call out like the Warren Zevon song, “Send lawyers, guns and money.”

Or at least the first part. A lawyer is a key member of a crisis communications team, but there’s one area where a communications consultant can counterbalance a lawyer’s advice.

Lawyers often don’t recognize that the damage to a company’s reputation from a crisis may exceed the actual financial exposure from litigation, said Anthony R. Licata, a partner in the law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister.

“It doesn’t do the client much good to say that, ‘Well, we won the case and we saved you $1 million,’ if the public relations cost of that was $100 million worth of bad publicity,” he added.

Licata offered that insight and others about crisis communications during a session we recorded together recently for WebCredenza, a continuing legal education firm. His observations dovetail with the advice we give when we help clients create crisis communication plans.

I’ve combined his observations with a few thoughts of our own into seven tips for crisis communication.

Licata has played a key, but behind-the-scenes, role in many high-profile controversies in Chicago over the years. During my nearly 20 years as a reporter and editor with Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business, I was sometimes on the other side of the table — or the phone — with Licata.

Licata offers a different perspective from many lawyers. Virtually every crisis a company confronts has a legal dimension. He believes that for lawyers to effectively advise clients requires knowledge of the law and also an understanding of crisis communications.

“A proper representation of a client who’s in a public controversy, a good lawyer has to do more than just manage the law,” he said. “Has to be aware of what the public relations implications are and participate with a public relations team … in trying to help manage that coverage and respond to that coverage.”

Lawyers can play an invaluable role in crisis communications. They often are already familiar with the facts, especially valuable when a quick PR response is critical. They also know how to investigate what they don’t know and can draw clear-eyed judgments about the situation.

Where public relations and crisis comms experts can help is by explaining how big a story a crisis may be and why. We can usually predict what questions reporters will ask and who they’ll interview.

Here are the seven tips:

1. Costly wins. There’s an old legal saying that’s some version of: “We won’t try our case in the press.”

Perhaps as a result, lawyers often don’t recognize that the public relations cost of a crisis may exceed the actual financial exposure from litigation.

“The question at the bottom here is: Can the media coverage affect the reputation or brand of a client? 100% absolutely,” Licata said.

2. No comment? Some clients don’t want to comment during a lawsuit or crisis, thinking a public statement will only fan interest in the controversy.

“What I call the ostrich strategy never works,” Licata said. “We’re going to stick our head in the sand and hope this goes away, right?”

“I try to avoid saying, ‘No comment,’ especially if it’s an accusatory type of question,” he added. “‘Licata did not return calls,’ that’s not very good either.”

Many people think “No comment” is the same as an admission.

3. Talk it over. What if a client insists on declining comment?

“We’re duty bound to follow the client instructions,” Licata said. “But before you go out and do that, you certainly can have a conversation with the client and explain … why it may not really be in his best interest to take that tact.”

4. Who talks? Licata is comfortable talking to journalists, but he has also worked closely with public relations and crisis communications experts who have handled those duties. One key question when a reporter calls: Who has an established relationship with the reporter?

Here’s where a PR person can contribute significantly to influencing media coverage. But too often the relationship part of “public relations” is ignored.

5. Be firm but polite. For lawyers, it’s important to be respectful, treating a reporter more like a judge than opposing counsel.

“Lawyers have a tendency to be antagonistic sometimes and want to be combative,” Licata said. “And depending on the situation, again, that can be a big mistake.”

There are some PR people, too, who seem to love to argue. But in our experience trying to bully a reporter seldom works and often backfires.

6. State your case. “Turn yourself into almost being a source for the reporter, let him develop a sense of confidence in … the line you’re trying to pitch,” Licata said. “You can help the reporter get the true story out, or at least get the spin to the story that your clients are trying to put on it.”

Journalists, like shoppers, don’t want to feel like they’re being sold. Instead they need facts, context and background to make sure they understand the story.

7. Mind’s made up. Sometimes reporters have already drawn conclusions about a story before they call for comment.

“One of the most frustrating things,” Licata said.

“I’ve actually had reporters tell me what their slant was, and I would say to them, ‘That’s not accurate. Let me tell you what the facts are,’” he said. “At least you’ve made an effort to put the true facts in front of people, especially if they’re off on a bad angle like that.

“In my experience, in some cases, that’s how you know you’re dealing with unscrupulous reporters when they start ignoring the facts that you’re trying to tell them.”

Improvisation
Zevon received more critical acclaim than commercial success with songs such as “Werewolves of London,” “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me,” and “Excitable Boy,” He died of lung cancer in 2003 at age 56.

While reparation is crucial to an effective response to a communication, improvisation is always required. That’s not a bad thing.

“Sometimes you’re more creative when there are limitations imposed on you — then you really blossom,” he told Rolling Stone.

Tom Corfman, a senior consultant with Ragan Consulting Group, was reminded while writing this story that Warren Zevon and Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson were friends. Does your crisis communication plan need to be updated? Email Tom to set up a free call with Tom and RCG partner Jim Ylisela.

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