Some lawyers love the spotlight. For others, discretion is the bedrock of good client service. Whatever an attorney’s personality and style, sometimes storytelling is essential for winning a case in court, or in the court of public opinion.
Legal cases can be controversial, and the story’s framing — timing, tone, and truthfulness — can be the difference in how the public understands the case. Is your client, or you as the attorney, going to be seen as the bad guy? How can you shape the narrative to support your case and come out looking dignified?
When Should Attorneys Publicize Their Cases?
For attorneys, speaking publicly carries legal, reputational, and moral risk. Not only that, but in a saturated media environment, where a story is told can add to or detract from its credibility.
In high-stakes legal situations, communication is not only about persuasion, it’s also about precision. There is discipline to translating complex legal realities into narratives that the audience can understand and trust. When done ethically, grounded in truth, respect, and restraint, publicity becomes a powerful extension of advocacy.
The challenge is to translate complex legal realities into clear, credible narratives that preserve integrity while informing the audience. That’s where we come in: as ethical storytellers for the legal world.
In our previous article, we discussed how extremely the pendulum has swung when it comes to speaking out about diversity, equity and inclusion. “Should Attorneys Make Public Statements?” talks about how taking a stance has gone from market standard to legal liability from 2020 to the Trump administration.
Recently, law firms have grown more cautious about making public statements. Standing up, defending, or even clarifying feels fraught with risk. But if the legal community’s instinct has shifted toward silence, inevitably some cases will capture public attention, and staying quiet can leave the narrative to reporters, critics, social media, or opposing counsel and their PR team.
In that article, we talked about how Perkins Coie navigated its communications liabilities. Now, let us show you how we helped two firms recently steer (or manage) the communications about controversial matters, one for a client and one for the firm itself.
Getting an Acquittal in the News
The law firms we work with range in size, from Am Law 100 international firms to solo practitioners, across every conceivable practice area. In this case, a solo attorney represented a former school employee who was acquitted after spending five years in jail awaiting trial for alleged sexual abuse of students.
The attorney’s client was exonerated after a months-long trial, and the attorney relied on us to tell the story to combat prior negative news coverage. For Jaffe, the goal was to restore accuracy to the narrative and dignity to the acquitted party and to his counsel. This was a hot story in the local area. The news was out there and people were talking about it. In this case, silence was not the best strategy.
Our strategy rested on telling this story with discipline and integrity to help translate courtroom justice into justice in the court of public opinion.
Working closely with the attorney, our team strategically gathered the information needed to craft a press release highlighting critical facts, including compelling information about the plaintiff’s criminal history and systemic issues in the local court system that contributed to the client’s prolonged imprisonment.
The release was highly effective, generating widespread media coverage. An Associated Press story sparked national and international attention, with major local, regional, and national outlets covering the case.
We obtained further coverage when the attorney’s client sued law enforcement for violations of due process rights and other misconduct. Our team then worked closely with the attorney’s client to prepare for media inquiries, making sure he was comfortable and well-equipped to respond to reporter questions.
And when a similar case also garnered national attention, our team developed and distributed pitches about our client’s case to the newspapers and TV stations who were covering the similar one, drawing parallels between the cases and giving the outlets an opportunity for deeper legal analysis — in addition to exploring widened coverage for the attorney and his client.
In all, our comprehensive strategy garnered several rounds of news stories in more than 30 outlets and gave both the attorney and his client ample airtime for vindication.
Strategic Silence in a Legal Malpractice Claim
In high-stakes legal situations, effective communication is not necessarily about outright persuasion. Translating complexities in a disciplined and precise way helps shape trustworthy and understandable narratives.
We assisted a mid-size law firm in a complicated case involving claims of non-payment to a client that were answered with malpractice counterclaims. Here, the firm’s reputation was on the line. As jury selection started, our PR team met with firm leadership to determine whether to make a statement or stay quiet. Here, media attention was not desired.
Our strategy included preparing a brief statement for the firm’s managing partner, framing the case as a routine contract dispute to share in the event of a media query. We also crafted internal messaging to reinforce best practices, such as advising the attorneys involved in the case to pass any media inquiries to the firm’s media contact and to avoid responding to reporters at all.
To prepare for a potential settlement, we prepared another statement attributable to the firm’s managing partner. After four days of trial, the firm’s leadership had reached a confidential settlement. There was some coverage of the case, and thanks to our judicious media strategy, it included a statement from the law firm that it was satisfied with the resolution. Case closed.
Strategic Approaches to Law Firm Public Statements
When a law firm’s reputation is on the line, the best approach isn’t high volume. The best strategy is telling a story with calm authority, backed by the facts. We help law firms navigate public scrutiny, not only without sacrificing their principles, but by highlighting them.
Jaffe also helps law firms and lawyers with marketing, ensuring our clients’ brands are associated with dignity and professionalism. Our case studies above show how we navigate public discourse with discipline through storytelling that can enhance dialogue while protecting a firm’s brand. Choosing when or if to tell that story requires careful consideration and wise words.
If you’d like to learn more about Jaffe’s public relations services, contact Vivian Hood at vhood@jaffepr.com.