Lawyers, Clients, and Public Relations Professionals: How We Can Work Together

• Author: James F. Haggerty
• Profession: Lawyer
• Pages: 159-182

159

CHAPTER SIX

Lawyers,

Clients, and

Public Relations

Professionals:

HowWe Can

Work Together

Generally speaking, the two people who are most unbelievable when

put up before the media are lawyers and public relations professionals.

Unfortunately, this may be all they have in common.

Often it seems as if the legal and public relations professions are con-

stantly at odds—but when handling the communications aspects of

major litigation, it is critical that they work effectively together for the

overall strategy to be a success. In this chapter, we learn about the pecu-

liar mind-sets of lawyers and public relations professionals and why, at

times, they seem so divergent. We also look at the creation of the core

legal communications team—a strategy for creating a team of lawyers

and communications professionals charged with enacting the systems

we have discussed throughout this book.

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In the Court of Public Opinion

160

It is in everyone’s interest (except, perhaps, the readers) to pre-

tend that PR consultants are not involved in stories. It behooves

the journalist, because it suggests that he has penetrated a rar-

ied realm; it behooves the star, because he looks fearless and

unattended by handlers; and it behooves the publicist, because it

always behooves the publicist if the star is behooved.

—Tad Friend, “This Is Going to Be Big,”

New Yorker, September 23, 2002

Journalist Tad Friend was writing more than 15 years ago about

celebrity public relations, that strange world of press junkets, pre-

mieres, and publicists who can handpick the writer for the next

cover story about their star. But even in the context of litigation

and legal issues—about as far away from Hollywood public rela-

tions as you can get—I’d still say Mr. Friend was onto something.

Except I’d add to the last sentence “ . . . it behooves the lawyers,

because they want the public to believe it was their legal skills,

and not the publicity, that actually won the case.”

Lawyers and public relations professionals can, at times, make

for very strange bedfellows. In this chapter, we examine exactly

why that is and what can be done about it. This is not, by any

means, an academic exercise. It is critical that these two species of

professionals work well together to ensure that the communica-

tions component of the litigation is handled effectively. It is in the

best interest of the client, and it is in the best interest of the case. If

you really want to use public relations techniques to “win” your

case, cooperation between your legal and communications advi-

sors is essential—despite the often-fractious relationship between

the two disciplines.

Counselor versus Counselor

Why can’t lawyers and public relations people just get along?

Whenever I give speeches to either legal groups or public rela-

tions groups, one of the rst questions I’m usually asked is, “Can

you teach us to work better together?”

As someone who is both a lawyer and a public relations con-

sultant, I have some insights into the mind-set of both groups.

I also feel that, given my professional credentials (and having

worked for so many years alongside both lawyers and public

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