Bell Yard Expertise
Our expertise is public reputation management during times of corporate crisis or dispute. Our particular specialism is Litigation PR, a niche but growing segment of the PR industry.
Litigation PR
Litigation PR is distinct from crisis and reputation PR in three particular ways:
- close relationship between lawyer and PR
- understanding and avoiding contempt issues, across jurisdictions
- understanding pressure points peculiar to legal actions.
In the absence of examination-in-chief, court room observers usually only hear the weakest version of a party's case. This adds a PR-dimension to UK litigation.
CFAs, by increasing the propensity for Class Actions have upped the stakes for corporate defendants, encouraging pressure to settle before trial.
Our Litigation PR services include:
- Media risk assessment
- Political PR strategies
- Settlement PR
- Trial PR handling
- 'Aftermath' management
We do not act in jury trials, since by definition this would place us in contempt, while even in non-jury trials or tribunals we are cognisant of the Contempt of Court Act and its implications.
Our crisis and reputation management practice centres on rapid situation appraisal together with thorough identification of lines of command. We work at the direction of clients' lawyers, in close conjunction with client's senior management, their in-house PR and with Counsel. These mandates often require restraint rather than pro-active external engagement: knowing when to contain an issue is as valuable as understanding when to tackle, or indeed initiate, press interest.
Bell Yard takes client confidentiality extremely seriously, given the reputation-critical nature of the assignments we undertake. We treat all client mandates with the discretion clients require from their legal team and lawyers expect from their business associates.
Similarly, we are rigorous about avoiding potential client conflicts of interest. We consult carefully with clients about their perceptions of what would be a conflict and will undertake or decline mandates accordingly.