Valley PR Blog

Why PR pros often drive legal departments nuts

By Linda VandeVrede on June 22nd, 2009 In Advice

Lawyers are to marketing momentum what brakes are to a car.   You’re zipping along with a campaign and THUD!  You hit the brick wall of the legal department.

There’s often tension between public relations and the law, and who better to crystallize it than someone like David McCann, Communications Manager at Snell & Wilmer L.L.P, a full service business law firm with over 425 attorneys in eight offices.    David has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California/Berkeley and a law degree from Golden State University School of Law. 

“If tension exists between the two departments,” he says, “it’s because of the different roles they play within an organization and the way in which they approach a given issue.  PR, and marketing in general, is focused on positioning a product, service or individual in a way that is most advantageous to a company.  This positioning process can involve making claims or assertions that, even if true, are difficult, if not impossible, to substantiate.  It is a process designed to influence perception and the decision-making process of a target audience.”

In contrast, “Legal departments help ensure that companies, especially in the case of public entities, do not expose themselves to legal claims or challenges based on misrepresentation or through unsubstantiated statements.  This focus usually requires the “sanitizing” of marketing materials which can cause marketing professionals to feel that the potential effectiveness of their communications has been significantly limited.”

What drives lawyers nuts, or are the biggest issues of concern, are the short turnaround times on review requests for time-sensitive materials, the unfamiliarity marketing professionals often have regarding the ethical/legal guideliness that are in place to ensure the company doesn’t put itself at risk as the result of the content of an external communication, and the frequent practice of making unsubstantiated claims. 

With mandatory regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, PR pros are at greater risk than ever before of making claims that are not true or are untimely.   It behooves us to pay attention and David has this advice:

1) Content – make sure that all statements can be supported by objective sources (for example, “a” leading manufacturer vs. “the” leading manufacturer), and if not, that they are clearly presented in the form of an opinion in the way of a spokesperson quote.

2) Approvals – all parties mentioned in a press release need to review content for accuracy and approve the use of their names, etc. as presented in the context of the specific release.  A company’s legal dept. should review all final drafts before public distributon.

3) Timing – financial disclosures regarding public companies need to conform with any SEC guidelines both in terms of content and timing of distribution. 

What’s your biggest legal blunder?  Once, I was caught between the orders of my boss, the VP of Marketing, and the express wishes of the CFO regarding how certain content would be phrased in a press release.   I chose to “obey” the VP of Marketing, and instantly regretted it.  The fallout taught me that the legal departments and the CFO are there to protect the company from things worse than a brick wall. 

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