If you’re an executive leader whose organization is facing a current or potential lawsuit, it’s important to consider a very important question. How do you manage the tension between protecting your firm from liability and mitigating a hit to your reputation? 

Navigating a litigious event is daunting — and there’s plenty to worry about just preparing for the legal battle that lies ahead. On top of that, a lawsuit can also pose a significant threat to your firm’s public image. And since even the perception of guilt can cause you to suffer losses in valuation and revenue, the reputational risk that accompanies litigation can ultimately cause more harm to your business than the litigation itself. 

Complicating this further, your legal team will tell you to keep quiet and avoid saying anything that could damage you in court. But your PR firm should insist that it’s crucial to get ahead of negative blowback and proactively communicate with your audience. 

Here’s why you should avoid adopting an overly conservative response — and five strategies to communicate effectively in the midst of a legal crisis.

Why You Need an Effective Comms Strategy When Facing Litigation 

Whether your firm is innocent or guilty from a legal perspective, staying silent in response to an attack on your firm’s image is not a good option. Why? In the absence of an official statement from you, your audience is much more likely to accept someone else’s narrative — or create one of their own. 

Academic research bears this out. According to William Benoit’s Image Restoration Theory, “The important point is not whether the business is in fact responsible for [an] offensive act, but whether the firm is thought to be responsible by the relevant audience” (emphasis added).

More simply put, perception is reality. So even if (or perhaps particularly if) you’ve done nothing wrong, it’s essential to communicate your side of the story to your audience. 

How Good PR Enabled a Healthcare Company to Gain Market Share

I saw the importance of managing the narrative around litigation first-hand when I represented a healthcare company that had recently acquired a new technology. When they attempted to break into their competitor’s market, the competitor promptly sued them for patent infringement in several countries.

Initially, my client’s IP lawyer persuaded them to stay silent. But the competitor was relentless, releasing well-crafted statements after every milestone decision in court. It spun every decision in its favor. As a result, my client’s sales team encountered significant resistance in the field. 

Further, the client was a publicly traded company, and its stock prices came under pressure as the competition persisted with its full-court press.

The tide turned when the client’s executive leader stepped in. He understood that even if his organization won the legal battle, it could still lose in the court of public opinion. That meant their business’s very viability was on the line — and he knew it was important to speak out.

So we set out to beat the competitor at its own game. We collaborated closely with the client’s legal team to create scenario plans for every lawsuit in each of the several countries where active litigation was underway. We charted out every possible outcome for each milestone in every jurisdiction. We drafted a press release for every outcome that would relay our point-of-view into the marketplace as soon as each milestone was achieved. 

This proactive, well-timed strategy enabled the client to maintain its customer base and eventually preserve the market share it had taken from its competitor. Thanks to executive leadership who understood the need to balance legal and reputation risk, the comms and legal teams were able to work collaboratively. Together, they addressed the compelling issues facing the company beyond the courtroom. 

5 Steps to Manage Your Firm’s Reputation During Litigation

Protecting or restoring your firm’s image as a result of litigation will take a serious concerted effort on the part of your internal team. And though a partner like Greentarget can do much of the heavy lifting to facilitate this process, your Executive Committee members, legal counsel, and other influential figures will need to come together to craft your PR response.

This will require you to take five crucial steps.

1. Conduct Scenario Planning to Plot Likely Outcomes

High-profile, complex litigation can last for months, if not years. Therefore, as we saw in the example above, one of the most important things you can do is put strategies in place to minimize the impact of ongoing negative press.

To think through every likely scenario, ask questions like:

• What are all the possible outcomes we may need to address?
• How severe is the reputational threat of each outcome?
• How could each scenario potentially unfold?
• How should we respond to each scenario?

Finally, you’ll need to gather any data or supporting information required to inform the appropriate course of action in response to each scenario.

2. Prioritize Your Audiences

The details of your litigation may not affect — or even interest — every segment within your audience. Knowing exactly who you’re talking to is crucial in getting the right message across at the right time. Therefore, it’s important to tailor your response to the audience members who truly need to hear it.

Consider:

• What audiences have the potential to be impacted?
• Which audiences will be most affected?
• What is the chain of influence within the audience environment?
• How large is the gap between current and desired perceptions within each audience segment?

Then, develop concise, quotable, factual messages based on each audience’s needs. Use supporting details, analogies, metaphors, and other storytelling devices to capture their attention and foster empathy for your message.

3. Determine Which Communication Platforms to Use

Good communication plans are customized based on your audience’s needs. In the same way, it’s important to deliver your message using the mechanisms they are familiar with or accustomed to. 

For example, you might choose to email your current clients because that’s how you normally communicate with them. Employees might expect to hear from you in an interactive town hall setting. But your investors or other key stakeholders might need to meet with you one-on-one.

Managing your firm’s reputation is too important to simply issue a one-size-fits-all message using your largest platform. Personalization is the name of the game. 

4. Identify and Prepare Appropriate Spokespeople to Deliver the Message

It’s also important to consider who should communicate your message to each segment of your audience. As an executive leader, you might be the best person to talk to the media or communicate with your board or other influential stakeholders. But there may be other spokespeople in your organization who would be more effective at reaching certain audiences.

No matter who you choose to speak on your organization’s behalf, make sure they are prepared to master high-pressure environments. Greentarget can provide coaching to ensure each spokesperson knows how to:

• Deliver key takeaways first
• Distill important points into memorable soundbites
• Block unwanted questions and maneuver the conversation back to your desired talking points
• Stay calm and poised when fielding difficult questions

Just remember: Your choice of spokesperson is also a message. Carefully think through how each audience segment will feel about hearing your message from your chosen representative.

5. Put a Rapid Response Team in Place to Fill In Any Gaps 

There are natural news events built into any litigation (e.g. filing of the complaint; subsequent motions; the verdict). In the scenario planning phase, you created a planned response for each one. 

Still, unforeseen situations are bound to arise. And when they do, it’s vital to have a team in place that’s equipped to respond quickly.

Your rapid response team should actively listen and monitor the situation at all times. By having an ear to the ground, you can stay ahead of any curve balls potentially coming your way.

Bring PR and Legal Counsel Together When Facing Litigation

Although PR and legal counsel approach the challenges of litigation from opposite sides, they ultimately want the same thing: to protect your firm from harm. Since lawsuits typically stem from — or result in — a reputational crisis, your PR strategy and your legal strategy must be linked.

Staying silent in the midst of a crisis is rarely the best option, but you also don’t want to say the wrong thing. To that end, crafting an effective communications strategy in response to high-profile litigation undoubtedly requires expert guidance and support.

That’s why it’s essential to surround yourself with experts who’ve navigated these challenging circumstances before. Greentarget has helped numerous clients direct a smarter conversation throughout the course of litigation. We’d love to help you, too. Just reach out.