Law Firm Bombings Should Prove Urgency of Security, Crisis Planning

Last's week's bomb blast at a Dalton, GA law firm and a mail bomb that injured at St. Louis, MO partner at Armstrong Teasdale should be a stark reminder to law firm leaders to examine their security procedures as well as their crisis communications plans. 

From the crisis communications side, here are some questions law firm management should be asking themselves all the time:

1) Do we have a proactive crisis communications team that meets a few times per year?

2) Have we identified a place where we can continue to conduct business should our offices/equipment become unavailable for an extended time?

3) Do we have a well-written crisis communications plan that guides employees on communication procedures? Have we rehearsed the plan at all and have we considered multiple crisis scenarios?

4) Do we have an effective method of communicating with our employees, clients, local government officials and the communities where we have offices?

5) Do we have "holding statements' that can give us a head start in communicating to the media when a crisis hits?

6) Do we have the capability to quickly post critical information about the crisis on our website or firm blog? 

7)Have we identified the media outlets in all our offices who would be covering our firm in a crisis? Do we have relationships with key reporters/editors/producers at those outlets? If not, who on our staff or outside the firm can we call on to ensure we have this information?

8) Have we identified third parties who can speak well of our firm when there is negative media coverage about us?

9) Do our law firm leaders have sufficient media training to come across well in print, radio and television?

10) What specific measures can we take to rebuild our reputation if it is harmed by a crisis?

These questions are the basics and there's much more to think 

about to prepare for a crisis. 

To learn more about this issue, please email 

rklein@beckermanpr.com.