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I recently posted a poll on LinkedIn to ask lawyers and law firm owners if they had ever had to deal with the reputational fallout from a crisis. At the time of writing, the results indicated that fewer than a third of respondents have had to deal with this particularly thorny problem. I do wonder, though, if some of my lurkers and indeed more active connections are worried about responding to the poll on the basis that they don’t want to be associated with the fallout of a crisis leading to reputational challenges.
Either way, a crisis communications skillset is one of the most important tools available to a PR, particularly in the heavily regulated and often politicised field of legal practice. I have written previously about best practice in managing a PR crisis, and you can read about that topic here.
On a related note, unless you live in a cave, you will have seen that UK retail stalwart M&S has been having a bit of a tricky time recently as a result of a cyber incident. This has seen hackers steal personal data, forcing the retailer to suspend online shopping for almost a month at the time of writing, resulting in lost sales of £43m weekly.
I am an occasional M&S customer, usually for school uniform (they do a smashing 20% off deal in early summer), and as an account holder, I recently received an email from their operations director, Jayne Wall. Jayne didn’t email me personally, but the mailer – which I presume was sent to all online customers – is an absolute masterclass in engaging with your customers during a crisis. I felt so compelled to write about the strength of the email that I’ve written a blog about it for the Chartered Institute of PR magazine, Influence. You can read that here. Alternatively, and if you prefer a TLDR version, you can read the LinkedIn post that inspired the blog here.
But how are a beleaguered retailer and law firms related, I hear you ask?
There are numerous reasons that lawyers should be concerned about crisis comms, and more particularly protecting, developing and leveraging their reputation. The reason that M&S did so well with their customer service email is that they clearly put a lot of time and effort into getting it right and ensuring that it resonated well with their customers.
I’m sure that they have deep enough pockets to ensure that they always have a detailed crisis communications plan ready to go, but their PR team also very clearly understands the importance of protecting, or where necessary, repairing M&S’ reputation. They also have a deep understanding of their customer, along with their customers’ expectations as to how M&S does things. Because of all of this, the letter felt natural, felt right, and felt very ‘M&S’ in its delivery. Do read the blog it’s insightful and republishes the letter in its entirety.
From a reputational perspective, there are two questions that I think law firm leaders need to ask themselves:
As a rule, I always start with strategy. When you know what you are trying to achieve and you understand what success looks like, everything else should relatively easily fall into place. Add into the mix an understanding of your target audiences, formulate some key messages, draft a top-level strategy and a plan for tactics, and you’re pretty much good to go. It’s worth noting that this approach doesn’t only apply to your reputation, it’s a pretty decent plan for any PR and marketing project.
Every law firm has a reputation, and what you do with that reputation is up to you. If you do nothing, that’s absolutely fine. But it’s also a wasted opportunity to fail to shape and hone something that can make you more money.
I talk a lot about law firm reputation and how and why law firm leaders need to consider how their PR and marketing activities, culture, staff behaviours, delivery of legal services and risk appetite and management all feed into reputation.
It’s important because reputation is the difference between good things said about your firm and your staff behind your backs (by the people that matter) and bad things said about your firm and your staff behind your backs (by the people that matter).
When you decide to proactively take steps to manage your reputation, you proactively take steps to move the dial on the way your firm is perceived (by the people that matter).*
*When I talk about the people that matter, I mean the people that matter – they may be clients, probably are staff, are likely to be referrers or other key contacts, and may be potential future or former staff. They might not be the competitors around the corner – although again they may be, particularly if you’re on the acquisition trail or seeking a merger or you need to bring in a new team with expertise you currently lack.
Because I think that reputation is poorly understood and reputational management even more poorly executed in law firms, I’ve written something called The Law Firm Leaders’ Reputational Playbook.
This guide is undergoing its final iteration at the moment, and I’m planning to launch it in time for my speaking opportunity at this year’s Law Firm Ambition conference, the theme for which is Competing Effectively in the Legal Sector. You can get tickets to that event here. It promises to be an insightful, interesting day, with plenty of experts sharing their knowledge.
The Playbook provides insights and information about the strategic elements of law firm reputation management and provides practical guidance on how you can leverage the strength of your reputation, to grow your law firm and make more money.
If you like the sound of the Playbook and you’d like to receive a copy, you can register your interest here.
This nicely wraps up the section on strategic reputation management. I now want to turn to crisis comms, and what law firm leaders need to think about, and then do, in order to be able to deal with the reputational issues that arise during a crisis.
I’m mainly going to focus on planning for a crisis, and the effective steps that law firm leaders can take to be best prepared. The thing about a crisis is that they can sometimes appear from nowhere, can be difficult to horizon-scan for, may appear to blow up from very minor or unidentified issues and can often move at incredible speed. This doesn’t, however, mean that you shouldn’t plan for them. It means that you very much should plan for them.
It’s also worth noting that whilst some crises have the above features, others are very easily identified and can and should be nipped in the bud. Worrying issues can include:
The above can all cause problems (and they are just a select example of potential risk factors) because they all indicate a lack of consistent leadership and expectations, also a fluidity that makes conformity or defining of standards a moveable feast.
Behaviours that may be perfectly fine for one partner or member of the leadership team may be completely unacceptable to another. It’s also worth considering that all of these issues tie very heavily into culture – particularly what you expect from your team members, but just as importantly what they expect from you.
Crises that can arise from external sources but are linked to your firm are also worth thinking about, and worrying issues there can include:
Again, you can start to see the risks of the above, but also how they can be mitigated with good systems, a structured approach to risk, and again, careful culture management with clear guidance as to what is or is not ok.
In short, you need to start to think about a few different things when it comes to crisis communications preparation:
Carry out horizon scanning
This can be as simple as good oversight as to what is going on in your law firm, and in particular spotting any potential risk points, being open minded that there may be more, and identifying and noting them as they arise.
Think about how others can help, but also how your existing policies can provide clarity, structure and support. Consider whether you need to review existing policies and ways of doing things in order to reduce or mitigate risk. Involve your risk committee if you have one. Make sure they are helping with the heavy lifting.
There are many ways of doing this, and plenty of resources online that can provide support. If you have an internal marketing team, they may be able to assist or lead. If this type of work isn’t in their skillset (and there’s a fair chance it isn’t – law firm marketers are expected to do A LOT, but they can’t do it all), then consider outsourcing it. We can help. However you build your plan, try to avoid convoluted sign-off processes.
These are the people who will be affected by a crisis. They may change with each crisis, but you should have a list of key audiences. In my view, they are likely to be staff and clients, but they may include prospects, referrers, former staff and potential future staff.
This is really important because every crisis needs a spokesperson. They are ideally very senior (ideally the most senior), and they need to:
Identify who you need in your crisis planning and response team. At the very minimum it should include your senior spokesperson and an experienced and senior PR practitioner. You want somebody in the trenches with you who has experience of crisis comms, somebody you trust, and who can remain calm in the face of a catastrophe. Keep the team as small as possible. There’s every chance you’ll need to move quickly.
Key messages help to ensure that you say the right things to your target audiences. It is important to ensure that they are guided by the strategy and that, if possible, they are consistent across all channels. Some of your key messages may need to be updated as the crisis plays out. Keep them under close review.
You can draft the most eloquent and beautiful statement in the world, and it can be utterly useless in the face of an unidentified crisis. However, you may be able to use the format of the statement, and if nothing else, it can be helpful to have something written down that provides prompts as to the type of content you will need to create.
Identify and record all potential channels to your target audiences and beyond. Make sure you include all social media channels, your newsletters, your blog. Identify key relevant media, membership groups and any other internal and external channels that may support your response. During a crisis keep a careful eye on any external channels that you can’t control and think about how (or if you need) to respond to any negative reporting.
Yes, it’s a boring task, and yes, there’s every chance you might never need your crisis plan. But if you do have a crisis, then having an up-to-date plan (even if it is not fit for purpose for the crisis that’s unfolding) provides a great starting point and reassurance.
Put it in the diary as a repeat task, and at the very minimum ensure the following is up to date
Hopefully, you’ll never face a reputational crisis, like most of the respondents to my LinkedIn poll. But if you do, I can guarantee that having a plan will absolutely provide reassurance, a template of sorts and a step one in dealing with the reputational issues you are facing. Do get in touch if you need any help with your crisis comms planning, or if you are facing an immediate challenge
If you’ve found this blog useful, you’ll be pleased to hear that it is one in a series that I’m writing about some of the tactical considerations to bear in mind when it comes to your law firm’s reputation. The content supports the knowledge contained in The Law Firm Leaders Reputational Playbook and I do recommend that you pre-register your interest in the guide for more detailed, actionable insights into how to leverage your law firm’s reputation for growth.
Victoria Moffatt is the founder and managing director of LexRex.
A non-practising solicitor she has been supporting law firms with their PR for over a decade. Get in touch with Victoria to discuss your law firm’s PR needs.
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