PR and reputation management

How to manage your firm’s reputation during turbulent times

This week we hosted six illustrious speakers at our reputation webinar. Up for discussion was how to protect your brand during turbulent times, looking at the UK government's and legal sector's reputation, press interviews that went right and wrong, the risks associated with social media, and how important it...


The communications war: Sturgeon v Johnson

We are just 10 long months on from prime minister Boris Johnson's election victory. Fast forward to now and a glance at the headlines and comment pieces in even the Conservative press right now does not make for pretty reading. ‘Where’s Boris?’ thunders the Spectator (which he once edited). ‘Where...


Zoom Therapy

Do you have a therapist? I do. I am proud of myself that I do. That I can have 50 minutes to myself. To talk about myself. My pain. So I can be my best self. Covid-19 means I have to have those sessions through Zoom. Or at least I...


Press and the pandemic

In January four journalist friends joined me for a panel discussion with a live audience. Yesterday, just as in January, 100 contacts from the legal world got, for a change, to ask the press questions.  The world, though, is very different to the last time we did this. In January, when...


How to handle the media in a crisis

As businesses of all sizes navigate through the challenging times caused by COVID-19, it’s important to ensure your crisis communications plan is up to scratch to deal with the impact the coronavirus may have on your company’s reputation. Crisis communications means immediately working in a reactive mode, whereas most businesses usually...


What we can learn from Burger King’s latest PR error

Veganism has become an increasingly popular movement over the past few years, and clearly where there’s tofu, there’s gold, with £740m sales of meat-free food in 2018. The latest brand to try to tempt the green market (which has grown fourfold in the past four years, according to the Vegan Society)...


‘Targeting your story is like dressing for the occasion’

A great aspect of an evening with friends is swapping stories – hearing things you wouldn’t if you hadn’t met up. And so it was last Thursday, when four journalists – The Independent’s Sean O’Grady, The Lawyer’s Matt Byrne, technology and business columnist Joanna Goodman and The Law Society Gazette’s...


Are you prepared for when a PR crisis hits?

Many people in the legal community were shocked to learn of a major fire at the Law Society that started Saturday evening and in to Sunday. Thankfully no one was hurt, and the Society’s main building seems largely untouched. But staff have still lost space, work and, of course, personal...


Harry and Meghan: a PR win or fail?

I’m possibly alone in having decided I am not a ‘royal expert’ - which fortunately frees me up to watch the unfolding media storm around the decision of ‘Harry and Meghan’ to quit public life and royal duties. I do have a particular communications interest in all this – in time...


Thought Leader Interview: Chris Fowler

In our latest Thought Leader interview, Chris Fowler, General Counsel Technology at BT Group, talks about what he looks for in an external legal adviser, the influence of the legal directories and how technology has affected the delivery of legal services. What do you look for in your external legal adviser...