Litigation PR is a highly specialized field of public relations which has its origins in the USA.
Litigation PR was developed based on the finding that during legal disputes traditional PR techniques – including crisis communication – weren’t providing the desired results, least of all in today’s media driven world.
In short, litigation PR can be defined as controlling and steering communication processes during legal disputes.
Successful litigation PR always pursues two goals:
- It helps lawyers to influence the course of litigations in criminal and civil law to the advantage of the client.
- At the same time, it protects clients from further damage to their image as well as from financial losses which can go hand in hand with legal disputes.
Even if the client wins the case in court, serious reputational damage is possible in the eyes of the public, at times with devastating consequences for the organisation or its managers.
Listed companies, in particular, react very sensitively to a negative verdict of the public. Their stock prices plummet, and customers and business partners lose faith in the company and its products.
In particular, highly complex business lawsuits, which have a high profile in the media, require precise and strategically well-planned communication – which in combination with an effective legal strategy accomplishes the desired positive results.
An ordinary hearing as a result of filed legal charges, a house search or a simple allegation can have drastic consequences for a company or its managers – should these allegations be fed to the media on purpose.
Banks, airlines, hospitals, food and car manufacturers and many other sectors of industry heavily rely on the trust of their customers. And trust can easily be shaken through a legal attack.
In the fields of capital investment, product liability, and the environment, in labor court disputes, as well as in national and transnational cartel cases (EU), our strategic legal communication and the legal know-how of top lawyers can unite to create a powerful force to steer the “case” in the desired direction.