Crisis Communications: The Essential Role of Your Legal Counsel and How to Best Manage the Relationship

By Bryan G. Jones, Founder and CEO BGJ Global

“Engaging legal counsel during a communications crisis is a critical component of effective management.” Bryan Jones explains the importance of integrating legal counsel into an organization’s crisis communications strategy to ensure accurate and transparent messaging to stakeholders.

Crises can erupt suddenly, testing the resilience of both organizations and individuals. Communicators should know how to collaborate with legal professionals to minimize damage to the organization and rebuild trust with internal and external audiences. If you can master your relationship with your company’s legal counsel, you’ll be better equipped to help your organization manage through a crisis effectively, protect the company and its employees, and meet your communications goals.

What Is a Communications Crisis?
A communications crisis is an event that causes significant disruption and attracts public or media attention, often resulting in reputational harm or legal complications. Examples of a crisis include fraud, product safety issues, data security breaches and worker safety concerns.

Understanding the underlying nature of the crisis is the first step toward effective management. By identifying the root cause of the crisis, organizations can craft responses that address both legal vulnerabilities and communication needs simultaneously.

The Role of Legal Advisors and Communicators

During a crisis, legal professionals serve as vital team members in shaping the organization’s response. Their involvement ensures the actions taken by the organization are legally sound and strategically effective. Legal counsel’s primary responsibility is to ensure the organization is not exposed to legal risks or regulatory action.

The communicator’s role is to deliver necessary information to internal and external audiences, to protect the company’s reputation and inform employees. With the help of legal counsel, a communicator can craft messaging that is transparent and compliant with applicable laws, while safeguarding the organization’s interests. A communicator aims to remain credible, open and honest.

Make a Crisis Communications Plan and Practice

Every business should have a crisis communications plan. If you don’t have one yet, now is the time to create one. If you already have one, ensure that all relevant stakeholders are involved and that the plan is rehearsed at least once a year.

A comprehensive crisis communication plan balances transparency, legal safety and stakeholder engagement. Key elements should include:

• Core messages: Identify primary messages that acknowledge the issue, express empathy and outline corrective actions.
• Tailored communication for stakeholders: Customize messages for different audiences—employees, clients, investors and regulators—to ensure relevance and clarity. Assign one person who will be responsible for communicating to each specific audience.
• A media and regulator engagement plan: Designate an official spokesperson and outline procedures for handling media and regulatory inquiries, with legal oversight to prevent inadvertent disclosures.
• Response timeline: Establish a schedule for immediate responses, ongoing updates, and long-term reputation rebuilding efforts.

Dealing with Legal Conflicts

During times of crisis, the communicator is responsible for delivering timely information to stakeholders. In tense situations, disagreements between communicators and legal counsel are inevitable. For example, legal counsel might want to hold off speaking to the press before all the facts are known, while the communicator will think it’s appropriate to update the press with information as it becomes available. To minimize conflicts, all possible scenarios should be anticipated and incorporated into your crisis plan in collaboration with legal counsel.

Many experts have offered strategies for working alongside legal teams, but few articulate it better than Jeff Ansell (with Jeffrey Leeson) in his book When the Headline is You.

To guide the process, consider Mr. Ansell’s 10 steps a communicator can take to gain legal support:

1. Tell legal counsel that organizational credibility, long term reputation and trust must be considered.
2. Ask important players in the room how they want the company to be perceived by key stakeholders.
3. Ask the lawyer to help lead the group through a process to identify responses and key messages.
4. Respectfully ask the lawyer the tough questions that need answers, such as “Did your product harm people?”
5. Have everyone in the room take good notes on the responses the lawyer suggests.
6. When the responses are complete, thank the lawyer and remind the group how the company wants to be seen by its stakeholders.
7. Ask the lawyer if he/she believes the responses reflect the way the company wants to be perceived by its stakeholders.
8. If the lawyer believes their responses are fine (and you believe otherwise) ask the group its opinion.
9. If the lawyer’s answers do not reflect the way the company wants to be perceived, ask the lawyer what could be said instead.
10. Steer discussion of the responses back to your original suggestion, adding words of value provided by the lawyer.

Maintaining Trust With Your Legal Team

Once engaged, it’s essential to foster open and transparent communication with your legal team. To build and sustain trust:

• Provide complete transparency: Share all relevant facts, including uncertainties or complicating factors. Full disclosure prevents surprises.
• Seek clarification: If legal advice is unclear, ask your lawyer to explain in plain language.
• Discuss potential consequences: Explore legal risks associated with different messaging options.
• Request regular updates: Keep communication channels open for ongoing guidance, ensuring your responses stay aligned with legal requirements.

Post-Crisis Review and Continuous Improvement

After a crisis, conducting a thorough review is vital for organizational learning. Consider these steps:

• Evaluate the response: Analyse what worked well and what could be improved.
• Revise crisis protocols: Update your crisis management and communication plans based on lessons learned.
• Invest in training: Provide ongoing education for staff involved in crisis response, emphasizing legal considerations and effective communication practices.

Engaging legal counsel during a communications crisis is a critical component of effective management. By understanding their role, preparing thoroughly and maintaining clear communication, communicators can navigate complex legal landscapes while protecting their organization’s reputation. With careful planning and collaboration with legal experts, organizations can not only weather storms but also emerge stronger and more resilient.