Huse quoted in article on Controlling Your Firms Brand in Crisis

Law360 recently quoted Huse in a recent article discussing how firm's can control their message in a high stakes crisis. To view the entire article, click here. Excerpts can be found below.

How Your Firm Can Survive A High-Profile Malpractice Row

By Lisa Ryan

Law360, New York (October 15, 2015, 5:48 PM ET) -- Any malpractice suit can tarnish a firm’s reputation, but when the person or company filing the suit is high-profile, the damage can be even more severe.

Bankrupt rapper 50 Cent recently filed a suit accusing Garvey Schubert Barer of botching licensing negotiations with a headphones maker and claiming the firm and its attorneys owe him $75 million. The celebrity nature of the suit is sure to draw headlines, but experts say firms can recover from notorious suits like this if they handle the situation properly.

“Your brand is your firm. If there’s a negative blemish … the demise is quick. Once something gets out about the firm, it can have a huge impact on how your clients perceive you, how the community perceives you and how prospects perceive you. So you really need to control that message as much as possible,” said Jill Huse of Society 54 LLC.

Here are four tips to protect your firm’s brand when faced with such headline-grabbing accusations.

Hire Crisis Professionals

Many BigLaw firms have in-house communications teams that are ready to tackle any crisis that comes their way.

But midsized and boutique firms often turn to outside professionals to help with their public relations and marketing needs — and may not be properly equipped to handle a crisis in advance.

The first thing a firm should do when a malpractice suit is lobbed against it or its attorneys is to seek help from someone who can help them figure out how to interact with clients and handle the press.

Of course, it’s best to be prepared for any public relations mess that may come your way, so even if your firm hasn’t been hit with such a suit, it is a good idea to engage with communications pros and come up with a strategy for any hypothetical situation that may arise.

Manage Your Message to the Media

A law firm’s communications team is usually going to be handling the press when malpractice accusations come around, but occasionally, individual attorneys and firm leaders may find themselves fielding phone calls from the media.

That’s why it’s important to have a unified message to send to the press and make sure that everyone on staff is alerted as to what they can or cannot say, according to Jill Huse of Society 54 LLC.

“The most important thing that you need to consider when dealing with press is to have a consistent message,” Huse said.

When Huse was working in-house at a law firm, whenever a crisis would arise, everything would go through her — and the firm would have a defined message as a result, she told Law360.

“If you have different messages on things, the media can spin that,” she said.

Be Honest With Clients

Attorneys know that when it comes to the law, honesty is always the best policy. The same goes for dealing with clients who check in to see what the heck is going on with your firm after a big-name malpractice suit is levied.

Generally, firms shouldn’t proactively reach out to their clients about unrelated malpractice matters. If the client takes issue with accusations lobbed at the firm, they’ll definitely get in touch.

It’s important for attorneys to be honest with the clients when they ask flat-out what’s going on. You don’t have to go into specifics, and you don’t have to say anything that might harm the firm’s case, but you should at least tell your client that your firm is looking into the allegations and avoid excessively bad mouthing the person or company that filed the suit.