Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Marketing the Law FirmLJN NewslettersNewsSections

Media & Communications Corner: <b>How To Make The Most Of A Stale News Story</b>

By Cari Brunelle
December 27, 2004

All marketing directors have experienced it. They receive an e-mail that describes a terrific deal closed or case “just” won by an attorney at the firm. The attorney requests a press release and a full-blown public relations push to all media outlets, local and national, including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. But curiously, nowhere in the e-mail does the attorney mention when the big case or deal happened. As it turns out, it is because it happened more than a month ago and, since the client did its own press release immediately after the fact, every media outlet known to man covered it then. So how can a marketing director say no, without actually saying it? The dilemma is that you cannot send the release to the media again, weeks after the fact, but you don't want to tell the attorney that he or she has no options either. So here are some suggestions of how to make the most of old news.

Before anything is done, the attorney needs to get permission from the client to do any PR on behalf of the firm. In many cases, PR was not done initially because the client preferred to handle it themselves and did not want their outside counsel trying to initiate PR efforts on their own. Once the client has granted permission, it is ok to write a press release from the firm but it cannot go out to the media who already covered the story. Instead, tell the attorney that you can post the release on the firm's Web site and send it over the Jaffe Legal News Service as well, which goes to more than 600 reporters and editors and is a free service. That way the release is able to be archived and searched and available to visitors to the firm's Web site. And don't forget to add the deal or case to the attorney's bio on the firm's Web site as well.

This premium content is locked for Entertainment Law & Finance subscribers only

  • Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
  • Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
  • Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts

For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473

Read These Next
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough Image

There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.

Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs Image

A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.

Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It Image

Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?

Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners Image

Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.

Supreme Court Rules Rejection of Trademark License Does Not Rescind Rights of Licensee Image

Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC The question is whether a debtor's rejection of its agreement granting a license "terminates rights of the licensee that would survive the licensor's breach under applicable nonbankruptcy law."