In business blog

In-house lawyers don’t expect a high profile in the press over the summer months. But July and August this year were different.
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Where major businesses have had well-publicised problems, such as regulatory investigations, general counsel have often been named and quoted in articles.

BP has had to contest a widely quoted purported admission of ‘gross negligence’ on the part of the company by its general counsel. Intel’s former GC, and Monsanto’s chief deputy general counsel, were both quoted in relation to US anti-trust cases. And HP’s general counsel was the senior figure deployed to explain the departure of high-profile chief executive Mark Hurd.

Their prominence is no accident. The central role that senior in-house lawyers play in an organisation when it comes under intense media scrutiny is increasingly recognised.

First and foremost, this is because of their relationship with the regulator. Alleged secrets and cover-ups are high up the media’s list of what constitutes a story – and where a regulator feels they have trouble getting information, or the information provided proves unreliable, it can be willing to publicise the source of its unhappiness. In-house counsel, therefore, need to take steps to ensure that they are not kept in the dark, and that misinformation is corrected quickly.

Second, the organisation under pressure may decide that its lawyer has the professional trust to publicly rebut misinformation.

Third, the in-house lawyer is at the centre of the tensions that pull an organisation’s instincts in different directions when faced with a crisis. If life has been lost, for example, the head of communications may want to apologise immediately; the head of legal to avoid admitting liability until the facts are clear. Those tensions need to be resolved sensibly for an organisation’s response to be clear and effective.

The advice from general counsel who have experienced being at the centre of a well-publicised crisis can be summarised as follows.

For the organisation:

• Have an agreed way to recognise when the organisation faces a media crisis
• Have a team that knows to assemble when a crisis occurs
• Define the responsibilities of team members
• Select a ‘command post’
• Prepare your message at each stage of the crisis
• Appoint a spokesperson

For the legal team:

• Get the facts straight
• Have a good rapport with the regulator
• Obtain evidence of compliance
• Have industry analysis of the facts, which may differ from a regulator’s analysis
• Recruit third-party supporters who the legal department may be in a position to contact, such as independent experts

In addition to media interest in ‘cover-ups’, the legal function also has responsibilities in other classic areas of media interest including the exposure of many people to risk. Public attention may not be welcomed by many in-house counsel, but for a growing number, being in the public eye is not a matter of choice.

As with so many things in life, timing is vital when it comes to writing law articles as a way of marketing your firm. Good timing can improve your chances of getting your article published in the media and it can help maintain a steady flow of material for your blog or website news section.
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As lawyers you have certain advantages over many professions when it comes to finding ideas for articles because you work everyday with a subject that governs our lives. Your potential readers are already pre-disposed to be interested in your article because the law affects them, their families and their businesses. Not every profession can say that.

But it gets even better. Not only do you have this excellent source of material, you also have another advantage because the law is constantly changing due to new legislation, regulations and court rulings and so on.

These changes mean you always have something new to write about.

That brings us back to the issue of timing and how it can help us produce a steady stream of articles on the same subject.

Nearly all legal changes have a long gestation period that can last several years. For example, a new piece of legislation will go through its various stages of being announced in the Queen’s speech to its readings and committee stages and so on.

Even when it receives the royal assent there will still probably be a year or so before it comes into effect.

This gives you several chances to write your articles. For example, when you first hear of a new piece of legislation that you feel may interest your readers, you could write an article explaining what the changes will mean and how it will affect people’s lives and businesses.

At this stage you probably won’t have many details about the precise nature of the new legislation but that doesn’t matter. In fact, it’s a good thing because each stage in the development of the new law gives you a chance to write another article as more information emerges.

You don’t have to take every opportunity, of course, or you may become repetitive. But you could probably write at least three or four pieces that would be worthwhile. These might be a piece when the new legislation is first mooted, another when it gets its first reading when most of the details emerge, and then another when it gets the royal assent.

If you wish, you could then do a recap when the law comes into effect a year or so later and there’s also likely to be another opportunity about six months after that when the law has had time to have an effect. At this stage you might write about whether it has actually brought the promised benefits or whether it has in fact created unforeseen problems.

To see how this might work in practice let’s consider the Equality Act. In my last blog blog I mentioned that solicitors could produce several articles by breaking the act down into its various themes rather than trying to write about everything in one go.

Good timing will provide you with even more opportunities. Many law firms have already produced several articles on the act during its progress under the previous government following the steps outlined above.

Now they will be preparing to write another article to coincide with the law coming into effect in October. The start date makes the subject topical again. There is also the angle that the new government is likely to make a few alterations. For example, it hasn’t yet decided exactly what approach it will take to all the equal pay measures covered in the act.

Ministers say they will give more details over the coming months, which will provide more opportunities to produce another blog or news article.

Once the act comes into force it will naturally have an effect of some sort. This means there will be several more chances over the coming year to return to the subject to examine how the changes are working in practice. Are they causing problems for businesses? Is there something companies can do to avoid potential pitfalls?

This may seem time-consuming but in fact it’s a very effective way of producing several worthwhile articles out of the same subject. Writing an article from scratch requires a lot of time and research so don’t limit yourself to one showing.

Return to it again and again when a new landmark appears. Your follow-up articles will be much easier and quicker to write because you have already done the main research.

It means you will be able to keep your news section fresh and up-to-date and provide a good service for your clients with the minimum effort.

Nick Kehoe is a former television and newspaper journalist. He is now managing director at law marketing firm Media Coverage.

• For more In Business blogs go to http://lawgazette.co.uk/blogs/inbusiness

Many firms now provide a legal news service as part of their marketing efforts and as a way of providing extra value for clients. The problem is that while it’s easy to start a service highlighting legal developments, it can be difficult to maintain. After a few months, the enthusiasm begins to wane and the articles start to dry up.
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Before you know it, you have a news section that is six months out of date. Then it becomes a little counterproductive – making you look out of touch rather than up to the minute.

There can be several reasons why the updates tail off – pressure of work and an ever-demanding caseload spring to mind. But I think there’s more to it than that. Lawyers by their nature like to cover every angle when tackling a subject. They naturally fear leaving a loophole somewhere that could come back to haunt them.

While that may be an essential approach when dealing with legal documents, it’s not helpful when writing a press release, blog or article for your website’s news section.

For a start, a client reading an article in the press or on your website is unlikely to want a chapter and verse analysis. They are more likely to want a quick and easy-to-read snapshot of what a change in the law might mean. If they are personally affected, they can always contact you for detailed and formal advice.

The other point is that if you cover every angle all at once, it’s little wonder that you soon run out of energy, enthusiasm and anything new to write about.

Thankfully, there are simple approaches you can take that will help both you and your clients. In my last blog, I listed a few new laws and legal developments outlined by the new government that would make good articles.

One of those developments was the Equality Act, which starts to come into effect in October. By chance, I came across an article about the act on a law firm website. It was a good item, but it fell into the trap of trying to cover every aspect of the new legislation all at once.

If the writer had been producing the article as an overall guide for other solicitors it would have been fine, but that wasn’t the case. It was written for the firm’s clients, who were therefore faced with wading through all the implications of the Equality Act all at once.

That’s quite a task. Remember, the act is pulling together concepts that were previously covered in nine separate pieces of legislation. It’s a major piece of work, and to ask your clients to absorb it all in one go is perhaps asking too much of them.

There are better approaches that will help you and your clients.

First, look at the act and consider the people it will affect. The first point is that it will affect both business and private individuals. Sub-divide that further, and it’s clear that it will have implications for businesses both as employers and as providers of services.

Individuals will be affected both as employees and as consumers. There are changes to our approach to discrimination; some of those changes are a new departure and some are just a shift of emphasis.

They will all affect a wide range of people in terms of discrimination relating to disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race – including ethnic or national origins, colour and nationality, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Once you start to break the act down into these categories you can see that there are numerous articles to be written. This approach gives you a double benefit.

First, you can target each article at a specific group so you provide them with valuable and relevant information without obliging them to wade through the parts of the act that don’t affect them personally.

Second, you will be able to provide several articles that can be fed on to your website or blog every few days, so it constantly looks up to date.

If you apply this principle to other new legislation then you will be able to create numerous targeted articles for little more effort than it would take to produce one comprehensive overview.

There’s also a timescale to this, of course, in terms of when you write and publish your articles over the several months and years that it takes an act to become law.

But perhaps I should practise what I preach and write about that in a separate post.

Nick Kehoe is a former TV and newspaper journalist. He is now managing director at law marketing firm Media Coverage

• For more In Business blogs go to http://lawgazette.co.uk/blogs/inbusiness

Whatever your political views, there’s no doubt that a new government can provide excellent marketing opportunities for law firms – particularly those firms that like to keep their clients up to date with the latest legal developments.
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The reason is simply that new governments mean a sudden rush of new legislation, new rules, new attitudes and new approaches. Every little shift of policy, whether major or minor, is likely to have an impact on the lives and businesses of your clients.

Those clients will obviously want to know what’s happening. If they are to be affected by any changes, then what can they do about it? How can they avoid any problems or take advantage of any new openings?

These issues provide lawyers with opportunities to engage with clients, by alerting them to new developments and explaining what the impact is likely to be.

Of course, many proactive law firms will already be running a news and analysis service, but as time goes by it’s easy to run out of steam. This was particularly noticeable in the last six months of the Labour administration, when there seemed to be very little momentum around. Everyone seemed to be treading water and waiting to see what would happen when the new government arrived.

Well, now that new government is here and, like all new administrations, it’s keen to make an impression with a plethora of changes. Now is the time to get writing to explain those changes to your clients. Here are a few ideas that might be worth considering.

Default retirement age (DRA): Both your private and business clients would welcome clarification on what the abolition of the DRA will mean. For example, although the DRA will end next year, employers will still be able to oblige employees to stand down if it can be objectively justified. This will have to relate to the nature of the work, but some detailed analysis could be helpful for both employers and employees.

Holiday lettings: The government has just announced that it is going to change the special tax rules for furnished holiday lettings so that they comply with EU law. Many landlords and tourism businesses will be pleased to hear that the rules aren’t being scrapped altogether, but anxious to know more details about the new arrangements and what impact they are likely to have.

Licensing: The Home Office has taken full control of alcohol licensing as the government promises a tough new approach. Licensees will naturally want to know how they will be affected, as local communities are given more say over late night opening while the police and local authorities are given more powers to remove or refuse licenses.

Cutting red tape: Every new government promises to do this, but then perhaps that in itself could be the subject of your article. What can Vince Cable’s new reducing regulation committee really achieve? Businesses would certainly like to know and, of course, you can always alert clients to regulatory issues that may affect them. Perhaps you have heard of people being caught out by some regulation they hadn’t come across. In which case, your other clients may be interested to hear about it so they can avoid the same problem.

Equality Act: This was from the previous administration, of course, but there was some speculation that the coalition would not go ahead with it. Now they’ve confirmed that they will, but there’s still some uncertainty as to how and when some of the measures relating to equal pay will be introduced. Again, both employers and employees would welcome information about how the new government’s version of the act will affect them.

Wills and cross-border estates: The coalition has confirmed that the UK will opt out of European proposals on wills and cross-border estates. This could have implications for thousands of people who own property abroad. Explain the implications and you will be providing your clients with a valuable service.

Children and families taskforce: The new taskforce has a wide remit to look at better ways of helping children, parents and grandparents caught up in family breakdowns. This gives you endless opportunities to explore family issues that concern you, and highlight both potential problems and solutions for your clients.

These are just a few ideas of course, and it would be quite easy to compile another similar list of what the new government has announced so far. There will no doubt be several more announcements in the pipeline. My advice is to try to keep abreast of them, because they tend to come thick and fast in the first year of a new administration.

Each announcement is an opportunity to engage with your clients. Use whatever means is convenient for you. It could be an article on your website which can also be used in an email newsletter. It could be part of your quarterly print newsletter if you do one. You could produce a press release, and you could certainly create links to the article if you run Twitter, Facebook or other social media accounts.

The law is important to people because it affects their lives whether they like it or not. If you can take complex legal developments and explain them clearly, then you will be providing a useful service which helps cultivate that vital ongoing relationship with your clients.

Nick Kehoe is a former television and newspaper journalist. He is now managing director at law marketing firm Media Coverage.