Litigation Communications

When it comes to litigation, lawyers no longer limit themselves to the confines of the courtroom to make their case. In today's environment, a company's reluctance to speak outside the courtroom about litigation matters can create a perception of guilt. If a company waits until it's vindicated by the courts to advance it position publicly, it can find that it has lost market share and market value. Public Strategies' litigation communications practice group works with America's leading businesses and the nation's top law firms to change that dynamic.

Litigation communications is a balancing act — the goal is to protect a company's enduring reputation and success by engaging in a dialogue with key audiences without risking its legal defense. Our guiding principal for litigation communications is simple: the legal strategy always guides the communications strategy for achieving this balance.

Our litigation communications experts work closely with the client's legal and communications team to develop a strategy and infrastructure to help the company carefully but effectively deliver a positive public message and defend itself. We construct crisis management systems that anticipate the opposition's next move and prepare for the challenges ahead.

Our Communications Toolkit

• An early warning system that anticipates litigation-related challenges that may become public issues
• Public opinion research
• An inventory of the client's community activities and participation
• Assessment of the legislative and regulatory climate
• Media and message training for legal team and corporate spokespersons
• A rapid response mechanism to aggressively challenge mischaracterizations in the media
• Statements, news releases and informational materials
• Advocacy advertising
• A comprehensive communications timeline built around the litigation calendar
• Virtual war room to facilitate communications and information sharing among team members
• 24/7 custom-tailored media monitoring and strategic analysis

Getting Started

During our first days on the job, we embed ourselves with the legal team to gain insight into the details of the case, ensuring that we are well versed on the challenges and opportunities at hand.

We will then develop a "message matrix" including overarching messages as well as submessages targeted to specific audiences such reporters, legislators, regulators, customers, employees, etc. We will also work with the legal team to identify and media train the corporate spokesperson(s).

Once these primary elements are put into place, we will implement a rapid response system, ensuring that we can respond quickly to incoming inquiries and proactively prepare for the upcoming chain of events.