Crisis Communications: It’s Not Just Another Line on a Law Firm’s Website
In recent years, it seems nearly every PR firm now claims to offer crisis communications. If an agency already sells marketing plans, product launches, social media, branding, employee engagement, investor relations, and digital marketing — it’s all too easy to simply add “crisis communications” to the list, often without experienced professionals to back it up.
We’re now seeing the same trend at law firms, where “crisis communications” is being added as yet another service. Yes, lawyers typically have strong C-suite relationships and sharp minds. But as our colleague Tony Jaques of Australia wisely notes: “Not all legal advice in a crisis is bad, but there is a veritable library of nightmare cases where legal intervention made an existing crisis worse — especially when reputation was at risk.”
Consider the infamous case when company lawyers presented an expert witness who rejected claims of a dead mouse found in a can of Mountain Dew — arguing that the soda’s acidity would have dissolved the mouse into “a jelly-like substance.” Imagine how well that played in the court of public opinion — and with the company’s communications team.
The late Richard Levick often reminded us: “Don’t let the lawyers drive the bus.”
We would suggest the metaphor is incomplete. Crisis response is more like flying a jet — and it requires two co-pilots working in close coordination: one legal, one communications. The best outcomes come when both work collaboratively to execute a clear, strategic plan — with a singular goal: to make the situation better, shorter, or simply disappear.
Recently, Tony Jaques wrote this:
Are Lawyers Taking Over the Lead from Crisis Managers?
Lawyers have been encroaching into the area of crisis management for many years. But the trend is accelerating, with lawyers resolutely and purposefully expanding their role.
The most recent data comes from a study to evaluate 100 American law firms, through interviews and their websites, to determine the prevalence of crisis management communication.
The research by Poston Communications, released late last year, found 89% of the firms referenced “crisis” as part of their practice area descriptions; 49% maintained a dedicated crisis management practice at the forefront; and 35% presented crisis management as a supplemental service.
However, such crisis management advice is often provided by lawyers with little to no operational experience, rather than by trained communication professionals. Indeed, the Poston study found only 2% of the firms evaluated employed experienced crisis managers.
Although this emerging development is frequently framed in terms of risk assessment and reputation management, encroachment upon traditional crisis management is very evident. For example, in 2024 the British-based international law firm Clyde and Co, released a report based on 225 executive interviews worldwide, which found 74% of General Counsel said “Proactively assessing the risk landscape” was an important aspect of their role, and 81% asserted the same for “Horizon scanning to pre-empt issues”.
While these are core activities of professional communicators, the report counselled they “will undoubtedly remain a crucial part of the General Counsel role as businesses continue to grapple with a polycrisis of risk.”
Similarly, about half the corporate lawyers in a recent worldwide survey for FTI said their remit has evolved over the last five years to include a variety of crisis management responsibilities. Sadly, the same report showed only about one quarter of companies surveyed were making proper use of their communication professionals in formulating a litigation response.
So, what can happen when lawyers take the lead, or more specifically, when companies prioritise legal advice? Obviously, not all legal advice in a crisis is bad, but there is a veritable library of nightmare cases when legal intervention made an existing crisis even worse, especially when reputation was at risk. Like when an expert witness brought by company lawyers rejected a claimed dead mouse found in a can of Mountain Dew because, he said, the drink was so acidic it would have turned the mouse into “a jelly-like substance”. Imagine how that must have pleased their Communication and Marketing Department.
The same could be said for what happened after an engine fire knocked out power on the cruise ship Carnival Triumph, leaving it drifting for four days without lights, water, food, and sewage backing up in passenger areas. The company’s lawyers unhelpfully told the court that the ticket contract “makes absolutely no guarantee for safe passage, a seaworthy vessel, adequate and wholesome food, and sanitary and safe living conditions.”
For the rest of Tony’s excellent piece, click here.
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Tony Jacques is widely known throughout the world as top crisis consultant. You can read more about Tony and the books he’s written, as well as subscribe to his Managing Outcomes newsletter by clicking here.
If every PR firm (and now, law firms) claims to offer crisis communications, how do you make sure the firm you’re calling isn’t overstating its abilities? Click here to read 7 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Crisis Communications Firm.