'No Comment' Is No Good, Says New Legal Crisis Management Blog
The 24-hour mainstream news cycle, as well as armies of bloggers and Twitter users poised to report breaking news and rumors at a moment’s notice, prompted law firm McDermott Will & Emery to launch Legal Crisis Strategies, a blog devoted to legal crisis management.
The blog aims to provide advice on “preventing, managing and ending a crisis while protecting a company’s reputation and limiting its legal liability.”
As coverage of the regulatory and legal arenas increases on the Internet, the entire landscape of risk management has changed for clients and lawyers, says Eileen M. O’Connor, who drafted the blog’s first post, The Dreaded Phone Call….
“Cases are no longer litigated in private,” O’Connor told the ABA Journal. “But, too often, lawyers will say ‘no comment,’ and because people don’t understand the facts, a company’s reputation is trashed by the time the case goes to trial.”
“The blog will try to help explain to people ways to minimize legal risk and mitigate damage, while appeasing the marketplace and stakeholders,” she adds.
Readers can expect weekly contributions from media, political and regulatory experts including, William F. Weld, the former two-term governor of this Massachusetts. The blog’s three primary editors are Lanny J. Davis, a partner in McDermott’s Washington office; Stephen M. Ryan, head of the firm’s Government Strategies Practice Group; and O’Connor, counsel in the Washington office and former broadcast journalist for CNN and ABC News.
Hat Tip: Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites
