How Lawyers Can Work With Publicists to Win Cases

Frequently, after lawyers are approached by potential clients they wonder if this case might be newsworthy. But, because of the nature of legal training, most lawyers are reluctant to go public with the story. Keeping the matter private can actually harm the client in the long run, especially if the opposing party goes to the press first. Whereas working with the media can result in larger and faster settlements and other benefits, if done right.

To illustrate this point, here is an example using two entities, a government agency and a business. The perception created of each entity can be dependent on who contacts the media first. It is safe to assume that when one party is a public entity they are very likely already talking with the press to explain their budget woos or other problems. It doesn't matter if they are fiscally irresponsible. They will blame your client - The reason they don't have any money is because terrible rogues like you and your client are sucking away valuable tax-payer dollars by filing frivolous lawsuits. Even if your clients' case is very worthy, even if the agency is at fault, people will not approve of your client's legal actions. Clients give up under this sort of pressure. However, if the media strategy is created at the same time as the legal strategy, your client's side might be publicized first. A David-and-Goliath story can be espoused - where some individual or business is being picked on by behemoth big brother. Since people tend to rally around the underdog, your client will feel more supported.

Fighting government or big brother

This scenario points out that he who speaks first and openly, often becomes becomes the more trusted reference. He who is second usually takes a defensive stance and looks guilty from this position. It is always best to proactively communicate something that could come into the public view, rather than the "ostrich approach" of burying one's head in the sand. To the public silence means guilt or an inferior position. He who is loudest wins.

Reasons to go to the media:

1. If you win in the court of public opinion your client is more likely to get a large settlement: The opposition may settle just to end the negative coverage.
2. Publicity creates news stories. These are considered persuasive, credible and objective and can sway public opinion and/or a jury.
3. If your name is in the news, it is akin to "free advertising" and will bring more clients to your practice, if you have something newsworthy to report.
4. You can Alien action figure a professional reputation in your community through the positive reportage of your cases. In other words, people will recognize you at cocktail parties and be impressed.

Why work with a publicist?

Reasons to work with a publicist:

1. Publicists know which writers and reporters to work with and who to avoid.
2. Publicists will listen to the story and are artfully adept at choosing press angles that are likely to get coverage.
3. Publicists are objective and can tell you how to do prior damage control so this doesn't spin out of your control.
4. Involving the media in the early stages of a case may taint a legal outcome since controlling what is reported is difficult. A publicist will manage the timing to coincide with your legal strategy.
5. A good publicist will become part of the team with you and your client, manage the media so you do not have to worry about this, and you can focus on what you do best.

I've found that legal training leads to adversarial orientation, and journalists are not the trusting sorts and can sometimes be downright confrontational. These two personalities together do not lead to a good conclusion for the client. In fact, it can lead to the opposite. A journalist can go after your client and make you look really bad. It doesn't take long to recall multiple examples when lawyers spoke directly to the press, without prior training in media relations, and came off looking very pompous.
How to interact with the press

Timing is critical. The media must be alerted to big settlements and verdicts in a timely manner. It's great publicity in which you look good because you already won. But no one cares two days after the fact; reporters have short attention spans, and especially on the web, news is old in a few hours. So planning media strategies in case of a win and lose ahead of time is crucial. What's newsworthy?

What is newsworthy? Sometimes a small case is an example of a larger trend. Sometimes an individual or business has an interesting story. Just about any confrontation whether civil or criminal can be told as a reportable story or put into a context related to timely events. Do not call the press and tell your story without writing the necessary background materials first! You run the risk of providing a "loose story." Once alerted to the event, the reporter will end up doing all the research without your input. Meaning, the story may not contain "the facts" as you would have provided them. And if the other side is very cooperative, your client could end up in the defensive position, and you'll look unprofessional. There are several ways that publicists get 1933 DeLong baseball cards depending on the duration and quantity of work required. Most of the time I've worked with attorneys, they have had their clients pay our agency directly and stayed out of the financial arrangements. Others have had us bill them and added an administrative fee, then passed the expense along to the client. Thus, our work becomes a profit center for their practice. And when a case is taken on contingency, the law practice pays for the PR services. This could range from a few hours at an hourly rate, to many months at a reduced monthly retainer rate. When the stakes are high, the PR fees are a small price to pay to win in the court of public opinion.

What not to do

How much does this cost?

Reporters have a lot to do, are under deadline pressure, and need to understand the facts objectively. Our goal is to make their jobs easier by providing the facts they need to report the story. Generally, this is done by writing fact sheets, background explanations, timelines, contact lists, and/or pre-writing the story so that they can read our version of what happened in the context we think is pertinent. If they decide to follow up, they will want to contact the other side. So why not give them the contact information and other details that the opposing party would give to them? Honesty is always the best policy with the media. A publicist understands how to "shape" a story in a way that gets a reporter to focus on an aspect of your case that is newsworthy and provides reportage to your favor. While there are some lawyers whose jovial and easy-going nature makes it possible for them to meet the press, in general, a publicist is better at this.

About the Author

Jenifer Levini is president of Web Presence, Inc., ( href="webpresenceinc.com">webpresenceinc.com), a marketing communications company in Northern California for 13 Mickey Mouse She has handled numerous legal-press interactions but can't tell you any of the details for confidentiality reasons. She wrote a magazine column for several years and received many pitches from publicists that taught her what not to do

website: href="webpresenceinc.com">webpresenceinc.com, blog: maketing.webpresenceinc.com, email: href="mailto:info@webpresenceinc.com">info@webpresenceinc.com

Networking For Entrepreneurs - Three Ways to Win

One of the basic tenets of marketing is to constantly feed new people into your sales funnel. Since most solo professionals and entrepreneurs do their own marketing, it makes sense to have 1888 Allen and Ginter practice of always leading people to learn more about your business and how it might benefit them. You may be the best person on earth at what Superman movie do and have the best product known to humankind, but if your marketing funnel isn't catching potential customers your business will not be successful. There are three parts to successful networking. Practice all of them and watch your business grow!

1. Meet new people everywhere. It is wise to have two or three events you consistently attend, where people get used to seeing you and begin to trust that you are a stable, busy part of the community. But don't discount chance encounters, as they are often fruitful for you, too. The trick is to be ready to meet people anytime, anyplace. Be ready with three things.

The ability to briefly tell someone who you are and how you can help that person or someone they might know.
A business card that includes a call to action (keep them with you all the time).
A mindset to ask about that person rather than spending the time talking about yourself.

2. Know the basics of working a crowd. Ouija board meetings can be fun and often fruitful for your business. But those events you consistently attend can be fruitful, too. Get the food out of your hands (you are not there to eat!) and get to work. Follow the points below to make the most of your time.

Let your goal be to meet others and get your name out girls comics the community. That's all. No pressure to sell. (Whew!)
Dress nicely - aim for just a little bit better than what you think most people will wear.
Keep conversations brief. You want to meet more than one person, and so does the person you're talking to.
Be the conversation starter, always! Ask questions - two or three. Don't focus on talking about yourself.
Eat before you go. You want to shake hands, and maybe exchange cards. Food in or on your hands simply makes working a crowd awkward.
Give yourself a break. If you've met 4 or 5 people, take minute to write a note on their cards. Take a few breaths. Drink some water. Then get going again.
Prepare for the day's conditions. If you're going off to network at a new business, look them up on the Internet. Knowing something about the business (or the person) is both good business and polite. It helps your confidence level, too!

3. The fun is in the follow-up. You know the William Tell Overture, right? Follow-up, follow-up, follow up, up up. Here's a statistic that will shock you -- a full 86% of people go to all the trouble of attending events to meet people, but never follow up! Simply being the one who follow up means you will be more successful than the 86% who don't. That's a pretty easy way to get ahead in the business of networking, don't you think?

(c) Sue Painter

Sue Painter, the Confident Marketer, works with small business owners in strategic marketing, visioning, and Munny customer service. Her website is href="confidentmarketer.com">confidentmarketer.com