Crises start in a flash. Reputations burn in moments. Your crisis may be ensnarled in litigation, or it may have nothing to do with courts of law.  Cadence has equal expertise in deftly managing crises in and outside of courts, and often helping your crisis avoid the courts altogether.

 

But for crises dragged through the courts, Cadence has unique expertise working with legal teams to ensure the best outcome for you. Our advice is critical to survive from the first flash of the crisis so that you can actually live to see your day in court. Brilliant lawyers may develop brilliant strategies to win legal motions or convince a jury—but that is completely separate from winning in the court of public opinion. Stockholders, investors, fans, and the public don’t read court filings—they read “the papers.” What happens in courtrooms and court papers may affect your case, but what happens in the 24-hour news cycle will determine what the public thinks of you.  Lawyers target judges and juries, but often the fight for your brand and reputation in the court of public opinion is left completely untended or worse, the messaging (or placement of it) unintentionally hurts you. 

 

We develop a strategy which targets the audience critical to your survival in this crisis—determining your message, identifying the people who need to hear it, and then strategically ensuring that the placement of your message cuts through to the people who matter most to your brand and reputation. Lawyers focus on how to win your case, but usually don’t focus on how to win even after your case is over. We ensure that you survive this crisis and come out stronger on the other side.

 

Expert crisis communication is distinct from legal strategy and needs to work in tandem with your brilliant legal team. Just as lawyers understand how to persuade a jury or judge, we understand how to connect with the public through media, strategy, and messaging.  The best legal team cannot effectively serve a high-profile client without having the best crisis communication strategy which—in real time—responds to the flurry of the 24-hour news cycle and puts in place a message to maintain the survival of the client while also placing the client in the best position to win in court, and most importantly, after the case is over. 

 

A crisis for a high-profile client may never actually play out in court—but it always plays out in the court of public opinion. 

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