Further to the recent the recent stream of endless corporate scandals and the growing need for Reputation Management for businesses and brands, Litigation PR is increasingly gaining prominence in the Indian PR industry. This article shares some experiences and takeaways which can be useful when managing legal issues for your brands

1. Growing importance of Litigation PR
Reputation can be extremely fragile in this interconnected and
24*7 online world, brands can live or die by their reputation in
this highly competitive environment. The value of reputation
has increased much more than ever before especially
considering the endless stream of corporate scandals.
Trustworthiness is still is a big issue among consumers and
hence we are living in a ‘Reputation Economy’, which suggests a
marketplace where businesses and brands are rated,
commented on, and judged based on reputation (rather than
financial performance).
In this light, Litigation PR has become pivotal for any company/brand during the course of any legal
dispute or adjudicatory processing so as to affect the outcome or its impact on the client's overall
reputation. Media: Traditional/Online are closely following and reporting about court cases, the legal
issues and its possible impact on the brand in question. Media houses are allowed to factually report the
cases as well as share their point of view, however if this is likely to cause negative publicity/reputation
damage to an organization, the company should ensure that its legal standpoint is shared with all
relevant media covering the case.
Here is where engaging a PR consultancy with a strong Public Affairs team can assist in making a client's
viewpoint known, protecting their client's reputation before and after the litigation, ensuring balanced
media coverage, helping the media and the public understand complex legal issues, defusing a hostile
environment and helping resolve the conflict. Having closely worked with companies facing litigation
and helping them to effectively communicate with the media, here are some tips/key takeaways that
could be useful:
1.Be closely engaged with the legal team of your client, understand the case thoroughly in order to offer
a thought through counsel for engagement with media
2.Sensitize the legal team on how journalists work, the interview process, deadlines and how you can
mutually work with each other to build a positive reputation about the company
3.Create an ongoing FAQs document based on the case and get the legal team to support with the
responses, this will help to share real time responses with media post the case hearing
4.Before the court hearing, be involved in the legal team’s meeting which will assist you in developing
holding statements for the media. Ensure that the language used in the statements are not legal jargons
and should be written in simple language for understanding of the general public
5. Keep the media that is closely tracking the news informed about the case proceedings to ensure that
the client’s POV is covered in all news reports
6.Most importantly, keep the client informed about all news reports on a real-time basis, send an sms
early morning and follow it up with a detailed analysis of the reports - understand the tonality and facts
covered in the report filed
My submission to all PR consultants servicing highly regulated sectors such as pharmaceuticals, banking,
finance, real estate etc. understand the key laws and policies impacting the sectors and if it could
potentially have an impact on your client’s reputation in any way. One does not need to be an expert on
the laws, but it is important to know about them and having a fair understanding about how they will

2. affect your client’s business. This will help you to be perceived as more proactive about your client and
its business.
Do you have an experience of working on litigation scenarios or have any views/thoughts/comments on
this article, please share.
Author is Richa Seth, PR Practitioner