Views on Reputation/LawFirmsPR.com

Law Firm DLA Piper Severs Relationship With Dick Armey Over FreedomWorks' Fireworks

Dick Armey's resignation from law firm DLA Piper raises some interesting issues about law firm reputation. The former House Majority Leader left the firm late last week after questions were raised publicly about his position as chairman of FreedomWorks, the "grass roots" organization that has been accused of helping to orchestrate numerous angry outbursts at town hall meetings on the healthcare legislation debate. FreedomWorks' website says: FreedomWorks' aggressive, real-time campaigns activate a growing and permanent volunteer grassroots army to show up and demand policy change.

Most law firms are diligent about identifying conflicts when deciding on client representation. But when law firms have the opportunity to attract a high-powered, highly visible former government leader -- as DLA Piper did some six years ago -- they can sometimes overlook potential problems/conflicts that can harm the firm's reputation. 

Lawyers have always been involved in and at the forefront of politics . However, in the Internet age, it's much more difficult for attorneys to keep outside political/grassroots lobbying activities separate. The media's easy access to online databases (such as detailed information about individual political contributions) and other websites makes the task of keeping things quiet and separate even harder. 

Many attorneys also hold important leadership positions in their communities and in multiple national/international organizations. It's a centuries-old tradition of the profession and many are great humanitarian and pro-justice causes.

But law firm managing partners and executive committees need to ensure they have ironclad early-warning systems  to detect controversial issues that might arise from those organizations and that might be detrimental to the firm.  Once a firm has identified a problem, it can develop a communications strategy to aggressively counter negative media coverage and other public criticism that might show up online. These criticisms can, of course, wreck havoc on a firm's positive search engine results and remain on the Web for years. 

Law firms also have rushed out hastily-worded press statements that appear overly defensive or that are filled with legal jargon that don't help the firm's image at all. An internal strategy to deal with these issues in advance will go far in defending the firm's reputation in the eyes of clients and prospects.

Finally, every firm should have a crisis communications plan that takes into account a wide variety of scenarios. The participation of attorneys in controversial --or even hostile organizations  -- should be listed as one of those scenarios. 

Managing Online Reputation For Small Business and Crisis Communications

There's a good article in today's New York Times about managing online reputation. However, it would have been better if the article touched on the role that social media can play in crisis communications, particularly for the most serious kinds of situations like terrorrism, workplace violence, fires, explosions, accidents or contamination from the company's cafeteria. 

With the lightening speed of information moving across the Internet today, social media can actually make or break a company in a crisis. Executives in small businesses needs to focus on the crisis at hand first and foremost. For example, a CEO should be taking actions to ensure people's safety and well-being first and ensuring that his high-level employees are working 24/7 resolving the crisis. That's why it's a good idea to consider relying on an outside professional -- who you already have a business relationship with -- to help you communicate effectively before, during and after a crisis.

One thing small business executives should NOT do is to rely on a so-called social media expert if that is all that person stands for. Management should instead seek to work with a person or company experienced in high-stakes crisis management/communications who also has deep knowledge of social media.

5 Things Law Firms Can Do To Participate in Social Media

Many law firms are notorious for playing "follow the leader" when it comes to taking bold actions regarding public relations, marketing and now social media.

So here are 5 ways a law firm can easily start engaging in social media that can ultimately lead to business:

1- Get all partners signed up on LinkedIn. Start/join LinkedIn specialty groups and begin participating in the many online conversations that can help build relationships. Seek out the firm's alumni as well and invite them to your network.

2-- Sign up for a Twitter account even if you don't yet "Tweet."  Just securing your name for future search engine results will help in the long run.  What's great about Twitter is that it takes just seconds to share useful information with clients and prospects -- and it doesn't even have to be your own. Think "Retweet" to get started. Don't know what to post? Start with key court decisions, new legislation/regulations and news items that are closely aligned with your practice or industries served.

3-- Create a Fan page for your firm on Facebook. This may not be for BigLaw but has great benefits for small firms in smaller cities and suburbs where "community" still matters.

4-- Repurpose your existing blog or start a new blog on a niche subject...then share the permalinks of your best blog posts on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

5-- Create a YouTube account. Even if you're not ready for prime time, this is a great way to quickly upload video from your best and most recent speaking engagements.