Hollywood could not have written a better screenplay than the real-life legal drama starring actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. The now-bitter feud between the actors reportedly began during the filming of their movie “It Ends With Us,” which Baldoni also directed. Within days of the film’s August release, rumors of the behind-the-scenes rift started to appear online. The rumors continued to escalate — most of them negative toward Lively — while the film went on to become a box office hit, grossing a worldwide total of $350 million.

In December, Lively dropped a bombshell lawsuit, accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set and orchestrating, with his team, a calculated, retaliatory public relations campaign to destroy her reputation. Named as co-defendants in the complaint were several members of Baldoni’s public relations team, as well as a crisis communications professional Baldoni hired who previously represented Johnny Depp during his defamation trial against Amber Heard.

According to Lively’s lawsuit, their plan went well beyond standard crisis PR, including using “astroturfing,” which Merriam Webster has defined as an “organized activity that is intended to create a false impression of a widespread, spontaneously arising, grassroots movement in support of or in opposition to something (such as a political policy) but that is in reality initiated and controlled by a concealed group or organization (such as a corporation).”

In her complaint, Lively alleged that Baldoni’s team coordinated social media efforts to portray her as “controlling” and “difficult” during the film’s production process.

“Millions of people (including many reporters and influencers) who saw these planted stories, social media posts, and other online content had no idea they were unwitting consumers of a crisis PR, astroturfing, and digital retaliation campaign,” Lively’s suit said.

The practice of astroturfing is not new. The term was reportedly first coined in 1985 by Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen, in discussing “the mountain” of cards and letters he had received demanding his support for a bill favorable to the insurance industry. “A fellow from Texas can tell the difference between grass roots and AstroTurf … this is generated email,” Bentsen said.

Since that time, astroturfing has found fertile ground on the internet, where campaigns can spread manufactured information that goes undetected via fake social media accounts and comment sections.

While astroturfing is most commonly used in Hollywood and politics, it’s rarely discussed openly, instead, it operates in the shadows. It exists in a legal gray area and can cross ethical boundaries if it involves fake accounts, disinformation or harassment.

Baldoni has fired back, filing a $400 million defamation suit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for allegedly attempting to “destroy” his reputation and career. He’s also filed a $250 million defamation suit against the New York Times for publishing an article he claims amplified Lively’s “unverified and self-serving narrative” that he orchestrated a public relations smear campaign in retaliation for her sexual harassment complaints.

While it will be up to the courts to decide the legal merits of the dueling lawsuits, the drama has left a black eye on the practice of public relations in the court of public opinion, to some.

Most communications strategists in the legal industry and other professional services would shudder at the thought of orchestrating a campaign to disparage a competitor. We trade in trust. While PR pros can issue fact-based statements in times of crisis and push out positive news about a client to redirect the narrative, operating a smear campaign would jeopardize our reputation and harm the goodwill and relationships we’ve built with reporters.

In the legal industry, a crisis can drop at any moment, whether it’s a malpractice or discrimination suit being filed against a firm or a rogue partner behaving badly at a public event. Negative headlines can rock and undermine a firm’s hard-earned reputation.

How do we at Jaffe assist clients with crisis communications? By being prepared. Here are a few essential best practices.

  • Plan Ahead. Firms should have a basic crisis plan in place that can be amended quickly depending on the crisis at hand.
  • Inform Everyone. Make sure all members of the firm, whether attorneys or support staff, know the plan and who is authorized to respond to inquiries.
  • Build Your Team. Identify the key members of the crisis team and their unique roles. At the very minimum, the team should include a lawyer or firm general counsel, firm leader, public relations professional, and designated spokesperson. Depending on the situation, others will be involved. For example, a data breach will need the involvement of the firm’s top IT professional and possibly an external data security consultant.
  • Get the Facts and Communicate: Learn what happened. Craft a general, fact-based holding statement for the media that addresses what you know now, and when updates or a final resolution can be shared. If warranted, include a sincere apology.

At the end of the day, the goal of crisis management is to prevent, or at least minimize, reputational harm to the firm.

Jaffe can help you with crisis management. We develop effective response strategies for all kinds of crises, from partner defections and allegations of misconduct to pending litigation or other sensitive issues. Our crisis management professionals provide media training, as well as monitoring, so you know where public perception of your firm stands when it matters most.