Avoiding the Legal Response Syndrome

Erik Bernstein litigation-related crisis management

  [Editor’s note: Australian crisis expert Dr. Tony Jaques has just published a new book which addresses the challenge of how to balance legal and communication advice when a crisis strikes: Crisis Counsel: Navigating legal and communication Conflict (Rothstein 2020). In this extract, he introduces the idea of what he …

When Legal Meets PR – ‘outside the box’ cease and desist letters

Erik Bernstein litigation-related crisis management Leave a Comment

Turning potentially negative communications into positive PR opportunities Welcome to When Legal Meets PR! Today every legal move has potential for PR ramifications and vice versa. That’s why it’s critical that your legal and PR work in tandem to produce the best possible product for the situation. In the first …

Analyzing Another J&J Baby Powder Case

Erik Bernstein crisis management, litigation-related crisis management 1 Comment

Setting the tone for nearly 2,000 pending cases A St. Louis jury deliberated for barely three hours before returning with a $70 million award for a woman who claimed decades of using baby powder resulted in her being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Johnson & Johnson has been battling claims like …

Could a Social Media Crisis Land You in Court?

Erik Bernstein litigation-related crisis management, social media crisis management Leave a Comment

Virtual issues bring real-world ramifications The consequences of crises with a significant social media component are growing. Today you can expect to take a reputation hit, you shouldn’t be surprised if financial loss enters the equation, and more and more we’re seeing social media mishaps wind up creating legal issues …

Mary Barra, the Woman in the Hot Seat

Jonathan Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, litigation-related crisis management, litigation-related PR, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

[Editor’s note: The following guest post comes to us from the always-brilliant Merrie Spaeth, President of Spaeth Communications and creator of the infamous BIMBO Memo.] Mary Barra, GM’s new CEO, and the first woman to head a major car company, is scheduled to testify before Congress this week. The topic …

New Accusations Mean Christie Crisis Management Continues

Jonathan Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, litigation-related crisis management, litigation-related PR, PR, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

New accusations re-kindle “Bridgegate” crisis for Christie Gov. Chris Christie’s assertions that he had “no knowledge” of the George Washington Bridge closings until after the incident was over were enough to sate much of the public, but, as we discussed on a recent edition of Rich Klein’s “The Crisis Show”, …

Apple’s Non-Apology Apology

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, litigation-related crisis management, litigation-related PR, public relations, reputation management 2 Comments

Highly nontraditional crisis management aims to influence court of public opinion Apple and Samsung have been at war over patents since last summer, and the battle is showing no signs of cooling off. Samsung is no doubt deeply stung by its recent $1 billion loss to Apple in a U.S. …