Crisis communications and litigation support
Events have a habit of destroying the most carefully-laid plans. Of course preparedness is crucial and our role is to help clients prioritise and plot an orderly way through the short-term maelstrom. But often the sheer speed and impetus of events means that swiftness of thought and deed becomes imperative. At such times there is no substitute for experience and a contact book which has been proven through prior testing.
It's too simplistic to talk about adopting a 'heads below the parapet' approach, which is much the same as 'trusting to luck'.
There are undoubtedly times when good news will be wasted (as opposed to bad news being, infamously, 'buried') in the hostile glare of a particular day's media focus. But our job is to evaluate which facts can be allowed to speak for themselves and which need skilful presentation to turn a story round and help regain control of the news or sentiment agenda. And as companies and individuals increasingly see the courts as a productive avenue to prosecute grievances, we have to be able to provide clients and their legal teams with assessments of how the minutiae of legal proceedings and argument will play in the wider court of public opinion.
