What is Legal PR? Part 1: Media Relations

So it’s been a little while since I last blogged, and with good reason. In May 2014 I produced a little person, and since then, I’ve enjoyed taking some time off. But now I’m back. A little bit like the Terminator, but hopefully slightly less sinister.

Anyway, because it’s been a while I thought I would ease myself back into writing with a series of back-to-basics posts on what it is we do at LexRex Towers. It’s easy for us to say ‘we specialise in Legal PR’, but what does that actually mean?

So first up, it’s the daddy, the dark art, our bread and butter… It’s Media Relations.

Media relations is basically anything to do with the media. Duh – sounds obvious right? Well, yes and no. We do draft and issue press releases on the usual subjects: financials, new appointments/promotions, ground-breaking/interesting claims, mergers, directory listings etc etc.

We also prepare what we call ‘forward feature’ calendars mapping out which of our clients’ target media are writing about their specialisms and when. We use these to help to plan their PR year and to ensure we make the most of any planned opportunities.

We build relationships between journalists and clients through meetings, interview opportunities, introductions at conferences, Q&A’s and roundtables. We know the journalists our clients need to know, and if it’s appropriate we’ll connect them.

We also pitch in and write bylined articles. These are the pieces written by lawyers that are typically seen in trade publications. These are not ‘paid for’ pieces or advertorials, but they are usually advisory in nature. Because we are all newshounds here, we know exactly what is topping the news agenda at any particular time, and we approach journalists with ideas for columns or articles on our clients’ behalf. As well as print and online media, we also create and exploit opportunities on the TV and radio.

So, media relations. Hopefully it’s all just become a little clearer…

By Victoria Moffatt

If you found this post useful, why not check out the others on our blog.

LexRex is a specialist consultancy providing strategic PR and marketing support to law firms and businesses that operate within the legal sector. Our services include media relations, social media support and training, award entries, legal directory submissions and copywriting.

If you would like to know more about our services, please drop us an email on info@lexrexcommunications.com or call us on 0161 850 5556. You can also tweet us LexRexComms or @vicmoffatt.