When a crisis hits, your legal team becomes a key player in protecting your organization. Here’s why their role is critical:
- Fast Action Saves Money: Quick responses can limit stock drops to 4% (around $4.6 billion). Delays can lead to losses of up to 10% ($11.5 billion).
- Core Responsibilities: Legal teams ensure compliance, assess risks, shape stakeholder messaging, and review crisis materials for accuracy.
- Collaboration is Key: Legal and PR teams must work together to balance transparency with legal safety.
- Preparation Pays Off: Companies with strong crisis plans often recover 20% above pre-crisis shareholder value within a year, while poor management can result in a 30% loss.
Quick Overview:
| Key Legal Tasks | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Legal Compliance | Ensures regulatory standards are met. |
| Risk Assessment | Evaluates legal risks in public statements. |
| Stakeholder Communication | Shapes messaging for various audiences. |
| Documentation Review | Confirms accuracy and compliance of materials. |
Actionable Tip: Prepare pre-approved message templates and run crisis simulations regularly to stay ready.
Legal teams are essential for balancing clear communication with legal protection during crises. Their guidance can prevent costly mistakes and safeguard your organization’s reputation.
Legal Team’s Core Crisis Duties
Message Review and Approval
Legal teams play a critical role in reviewing crisis communications to reduce legal risks while maintaining honest and clear interactions with stakeholders. Their primary goal is to ensure statements are both accurate and legally compliant.
| Review Focus | Key Considerations |
|---|---|
| Accuracy Check | Ensure all facts and claims are correct |
| Legal Compliance | Adhere to relevant regulations |
| Risk Assessment | Identify potential legal vulnerabilities |
| Consistency | Keep messaging uniform across platforms |
| Timing | Balance quick responses with legal safeguards |
Using these guidelines, legal teams thoroughly analyze public statements to identify and address any additional legal concerns.
Risk Assessment in Public Statements
When reviewing public statements, legal teams carefully evaluate risks such as defamation, privacy violations, and regulatory compliance. Collaborating closely with communication teams, they aim to craft messages that are clear yet legally secure. This process involves identifying any language that might suggest liability or disclose sensitive details that could affect future legal cases.
Meeting Legal Requirements
Legal teams go beyond simply reviewing messages – they ensure all communications meet legal standards. Their responsibilities include examining insurance policies to confirm coverage for crisis-related issues and verifying that messages align with any contractual obligations. By working closely with communication experts, they create statements that meet legal requirements while remaining understandable and effective for the target audience.
Open Communication vs Legal Protection
Balancing Transparency and Legal Safety
Organizations need to strike a balance between being open and protecting themselves legally during crises. Legal teams often work closely with communication teams to create messages that build trust while staying within legal boundaries.
| Communication Style | Legal Concerns | How to Implement |
|---|---|---|
| Quick Responses | Avoid admitting liability | Stick to facts and outline next steps |
| Regular Updates | Ensure accuracy of details | Share only verified information |
| Stakeholder Engagement | Protect sensitive details | Highlight company principles |
| Investigation Updates | Maintain confidentiality | Explain the process without oversharing |
This approach helps organizations communicate clearly while safeguarding sensitive information.
Guidelines for Protecting Sensitive Information
To communicate effectively without compromising legal privilege, it’s crucial to define what can and cannot be shared. Key measures include:
- Securing Information: Enforce confidentiality agreements and comply with regulations.
- Preserving Legal Privilege: Keep attorney-client communications protected.
- Defining Disclosure Rules: Adhere to industry-specific protocols for sharing information.
These safeguards ensure sensitive data remains protected while keeping communication channels open.
Addressing Public Information Needs
Avoid using "no comment" responses, as they can erode trust. Instead, focus on showing a commitment to resolving the issue. Here’s how organizations can approach it:
- Showcase Values: Share the company’s stance and commitment to resolution.
- Provide Consistent Updates: Keep stakeholders informed about progress.
- Document Decisions: Explain the reasoning behind what information is shared.
Using structured frameworks like the traffic light protocol (TLP) can help determine what information to share and with whom. This system supports transparency while ensuring legally sensitive information stays protected.
Legal and PR Team Coordination
Team Roles and Tasks
Managing a crisis effectively depends on clear roles for both legal and PR teams. Each team must understand its responsibilities and work together to provide consistent, compliant communication.
| Team | Primary Responsibilities | Key Deliverables |
|---|---|---|
| Legal | Assessing risks, reviewing compliance, protecting privileges | Legal guidelines, approved language, regulatory adherence |
| PR | Crafting messages, engaging stakeholders, managing media | Communication plans, public statements, media updates |
| Joint | Approving messages, responding to crises, maintaining records | Finalized statements, response plans, crisis documentation |
This structure also supports the creation of standardized materials for quicker responses.
Pre-approved Message Templates
Pre-approved templates, developed with input from both teams, make it easier to deliver timely and compliant messages. These templates, vetted by legal experts, serve as a starting point for fast adjustments during a crisis.
"A holding statement should be issued within the first few moments. It doesn’t need to say a lot, but it’s about establishing your organization as a central point of authoritative communication." – Carmel O’Toole, Seasoned Journalist and Award-Winning PR Practitioner
Key elements of strong message templates include:
- Fact Sheets: Tailored documents outlining crisis details, impacts, and immediate actions for specific audiences.
- Q&A Documents: Thorough answers to likely stakeholder questions.
- Social Media Guidelines: Clear rules for posting and defined approval processes.
Crisis Response Practice
Crisis simulations are essential for honing team coordination and strategies. These exercises help identify weaknesses and build stronger team dynamics before a real crisis occurs.
"Tabletop exercises are an economical place to begin engaging crisis teams and are effective for validating plans, procedures and policies." – Deborah Hileman, President and CEO of the Institute for Crisis Management
For example, regular tabletop exercises often uncover gaps in response plans and improve collaboration, resulting in better preparedness.
To stay ready, organizations should:
- Run tabletop exercises regularly with both legal and PR teams.
- Update response plans based on lessons learned.
- Practice decision-making in real-time scenarios.
- Document findings and apply improvements.
This teamwork ensures both groups can handle crises effectively while staying compliant and maintaining public confidence.
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Legal Response Documentation
Protecting Legal Privilege
To safeguard attorney-client privilege during crisis documentation, it’s crucial to follow strict protocols. Legal teams must clearly separate privileged communications from non-privileged ones to protect sensitive details.
| Communication Type | Protection Status | Documentation Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Legal Advice | Attorney-client privilege | Confidential, labeled communications between client and lawyer |
| Litigation Materials | Litigation privilege | Documents prepared for legal proceedings |
| Operational Updates | Non-privileged | Regular business communications |
To effectively preserve legal privilege, organizations should:
- Keep operational and legal teams distinct to avoid mixing privileged and non-privileged information.
- Clearly label privileged documents and limit access to essential personnel.
- Bring in external counsel quickly during crises to ensure proper handling.
Once privilege is secured, document every step of the legal review process thoroughly.
Legal Review Records
A well-organized system for tracking legal reviews is essential to capture all key decisions and actions. This prevents compliance problems and ensures a clear audit trail for future reference.
Critical elements to include in documentation are:
- The origin of the request and its timestamp.
- Details of internal recipients.
- Deadlines for responses.
- Decisions made during the review and their reasoning.
- Action items and their completion status.
Automated tools can help securely track and manage these details, making them accessible while maintaining confidentiality.
Consistent record-keeping forms the backbone of effective document retention.
Document Retention
A structured approach to document retention helps defend organizational actions and demonstrate compliance. Properly archiving crisis-related materials is essential for both legal protection and future reference.
Key practices for retention include:
- Archiving all requests and responses for auditing purposes.
- Keeping detailed activity logs.
- Regularly updating workflow documentation.
To enhance retention efforts, organizations should create a legal request playbook that includes:
- Step-by-step operating procedures.
- Guidelines for classifying documents.
- Retention schedules for different types of records.
- Access control measures.
- Audit requirements.
For international incidents, involving foreign counsel is strongly recommended. This ensures compliance with local retention laws and privacy regulations. Such measures help maintain consistent documentation standards across regions while safeguarding legal privilege.
Overcoming Legal Challenges in Crisis Communication
Conclusion: Legal Teams in Crisis Response
Legal teams play a crucial role in protecting an organization’s interests during crises. They must balance transparent communication with legal safeguards. Quick, effective responses can help preserve a company’s valuation, while delays or missteps can lead to steep declines – on average, a poor response results in a 14% drop in stock value and a $16 billion loss in market capitalization.
Here are three critical factors for managing crises effectively:
| Factor | Impact | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Response Time | Quick responses limit stock declines to 4%, compared to 14% for delays | Set up rapid response protocols |
| Team Integration | Reduces conflicting messages and legal risks | Foster collaboration between legal and PR teams |
| Documentation | Ensures compliance and protects legal privilege | Use structured documentation systems |
These factors highlight the importance of strong coordination between legal and public relations teams during a crisis.
"Get as much of the story out upfront as possible, even if it’s painful"
With proper legal oversight, organizations can maintain their credibility while managing risks.
For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking to improve their crisis response, Growth Shuttle offers advisory services to help align legal and communication strategies effectively.
Key actions for legal teams include:
- Defining clear roles within the crisis management team
- Preparing pre-approved message templates for common scenarios
- Ensuring constant communication between legal and PR teams
- Documenting all decisions and their reasoning
- Conducting regular crisis simulation exercises
"In a crisis, don’t hide behind anything or anybody. They’re going to find you anyway"
