Law firms: global expansion brings reputational risk

Running a law firm isn’t easy these days especially if, as is the case with so many firms, you’re looking to expand abroad.

Recently both the Financial Times, and The Telegraph have run stories about major law firms who are opening or managing their offices in countries and territories such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Hong Kong where legitimate concerns about human rights have been raised.

As specialists in Media Training for law firms we work closely with the media relations teams of a wide variety of magic circle, silver circle and other firms to help them to manage difficult issues. A lot of our support is pre-emptive – as working journalists (operating under strict NDA), we know how the media will handle any issue. Therefore, we can help to shape statements that can be prepared ready for release should an incident arise.

Managing reputational risk as you expand internationally

As is the case with all companies, there’s more of a focus these days on the ethical record of law firms – and, by extension, their clients. Sustainability, DEI, human rights, support for local communities and policies on accepting clients who operate in areas such as fossil fuels, weaponry, gambling, tobacco, and alcohol are no longer an add-on, they’re increasingly fundamental for many law firms. Clients and potential new hires are now more interested than ever in these issues.

This is to be applauded, of course. However, it puts pressure on firms to behave in an exemplary manner. After all, the media loves corporate hypocrisy – an organisation says one thing but is caught doing another. Today, being ready to answer this accusation and to do so quickly and effectively is essential.

Crisis communications for law firms

At Communicate Media, we’re also working with a growing number of law firms to manage their full blown crisis communications situations. This could involve a data breach, an allegation of harassment or bullying against a partner or an issue affecting a client which has the potential to reflect badly on the firm itself.

As part of our media training for law firms we look at what makes a story and how journalists work as well as how they put together a report. The FT story, of instance, has a number of typical features of a media report. Latham Watkins’ decision, it says “underscores the growing difficulties for global companies operating in a city that made its name as an international financial hub.” This is typical of journalists’ interest in trends – something that we discuss in our media coaching for lawyers. It’s also a journalistic habit that the media relations teams of law firms can use to their advantage.

The Telegraph piece includes an observation from Jason Connolly, chief executive and founder of headhunter JMC Legal Recruitment, that Gen Z lawyers are “more sensitive” and will avoid firms that don’t reflect their values. In our media interview training for lawyers, we look at how journalists will pull together comment from a variety of sources to build an article. We challenge our course participants and their PR advisors to think about how they can fit in with the other contributors to the piece in a way that works for the journalist – but also gives them the best coverage.

What does off the record mean?

There’s also an off the record comment from someone at the firm. “What does off the record mean?” is something that we hear a lot during our media training courses for law firms. Again, the fact that our trainers are also working journalists means that they can explain how they use this arrangement.

?It’s worth remembering that even if the firm isn’t officially commenting on a difficult issue, it might be that a partner or other senior spokesperson who is doing an interview with a journalist on a different subject finds themselves being asked about it. Giving an incorrect answer or handling it badly can mean that the journalist gets a great story. However, it’s not great for the firm as it suffers severe damage to its reputation.

?Fear of getting embroiled in these difficult issues can mean, quite understandably, that partners are unwilling to do interviews and therefore your firm misses out on opportunities to raise its profile and to get ahead of the competition. Our Media Training for law firms enables partners to handle difficult questions and to feel confident about getting back to their key messages.

Helping law firm partners to manage media interviews

Our crisis communications training for law firms helps the press offices of firms to work closely with their senior leadership teams to respond quickly and effectively to any crisis that might arise. This means enabling them to put out a statement quickly, to manage enquiries from journalists, and to equip their managing partners and other senior leaders to do media interviews to rebut allegations and to get the firm’s positive messages across effectively.

As we say in our crisis communications courses, if you manage a crisis well not only can you mitigate its impact but you can even come out of it in pretty good shape as your audiences think: “OK, everyone makes mistakes and sometimes bad things happen to good people but at least they’re doing their best.”