Why PR Teams and Legal Teams Must Be Involved in Crisis Management
It is indisputable that 2024 was marred by jaw-dropping scandals and public relations crises. From celebrity to faith to politics, it seems scandals have rocked major industries, leading to reduced trust in public officials. If these crisis situations have taught us anything, is it that the public relations team and the legal team must be in sync.
The legal team is focused on protecting a client’s interests or defending against wrong-doing. The public relations team (or strategic communications team) is focused on managing the organization’s public perception. They also focus on communicating the case in the court of public opinion. The legal team wants to win in court.
When there is a crisis situation, the organization needs both legal and public relations assistance.
I learned this years ago while working for a civil rights organization that used strategic communications and legal strategies to advance change. The organization had tons of lawyers on staff as well as a large strategic communications department. When they filed lawsuits or was a party on a case, the legal and communications team spoke often.
In a perfect world, the PR team and the legal team are both brought in early and often and both have an opportunity to advise on strategy. If one or more of these parties is excluded from crisis planning, the strategy will be ill-informed. If the public relations team is included but they don’t feel free to give honest feedback, the organization may suffer.
Alternatively, sometimes we see public statements that may cause legal trouble down the line. In other situations, we see actions that may make legal sense but result in souring public opinion. For instance, DayStar Network was recently embroiled in a scandal over, among other things, allegations its president covered up the sexual abuse of her grandchild. The company’s legal team is alleged to have sent threat letters or cease and desist notices to some of YouTubers and at least one journalist. The move emboldened the content creators to continue to cover the crisis. The legal move gave oxygen to a story that its subjects likely wanted to dissipate.
In another recent situation, rapper and businessman Shawn Carter, publicly known as Jay Z, was accused of sexual assault of a minor. He was named in a lawsuit with disgraced music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. Both vehemently deny the claims against them.
Carter’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, held a media conference and noted that Carter and Combs had no longtime bond and were not friends. Spiro’s comments likely emboldened some in the public to disprove his assertion. Rather than focusing on Mr. Carter’s innocence, Spiro’s comments drew questions, and may have undermined his credibility.
On the flip side, there have been moments where I made recommendations that didn’t align with the direction the legal team wanted to pursue. I was focused on how to communicate a complex case to the public. The lawyer were focused on the present matter as well as the case should we get a hearing or if our case was appealed.
With high profile cases, it is common for the leadership of a company to close ranks and limit the number of people who know the details of a matter. However, crisis situations are the precise moment when companies need the input of trained strategic communications leaders.
If anyone is included in crisis communications discussions, it should be senior level public relations leaders as well as the legal team. Both parties are valuable and both perspectives must be valued.
Jennifer R. Farmer is the principal of Spotlight PR LLC. Check out her other writings on our blog, The Pitch.