Contrary to popular belief, “litigation PR” is not a dark art: it is much better described as conducting PR in a strait-jacket—the key difference with litigation PR being that it operates in an unusual, highly regulated environment because of the various court reporting restrictions and sub judice rules and so forth.
In essence, litigation PR is the art of managing media coverage around cases, either to manage the impact of the litigation on the client’s ongoing reputation, or to encourage early or favourable settlement in the case of civil cases. There is an entirely ethical way to run litigation PR programmes, so there is no need for clients to be deprived of the benefits that good media handling in these situations can offer: the benefit of an additional tool in their litigation armoury; the benefit of protection to reputation; and the benefit of ensuring their side of the story is clearly heard and understood by those audiences most important to them.
For those considering making use of what litigation PR has to offer, or who are actively engaged with it, here are a few