Blawg's Blog by Bill Gratsch

# re: In Litigation? Start a Website!

In my area of practice, labor and employment law, attorneys for plaintiffs in discrimination class actions have been publicizing their positions via the Internet for years now.

As a blogger writing about a settlement or other major development in one of these high-stakes cases, I have yet to find any comparable Internet-savvy PR on the part of corporate defendants.

Note that these are the big companies that agree to settlements in the hundreds of millions, enriching the plaintiffs' attorneys and building their war chests for future campaigns.

My opinion: in the current communication and litigation environment, sticking with the conservative traditional "no comment" approach while the opponent plasters the Internet with their side of the story makes little sense in many cases, particularly since more is at stake than the huge cost of settlement. Damage to corporate reputation is perhaps a larger cost.

Discussions and strategy coordination between corporate PR and corporate legal should be taking place at the highest levels. The answer will not always be to use the Web, but that possibility should be actively discussed. 5/24/2007 9:25 AM | George Lenard

 re: In Litigation? Start a Website!

In Louisville, Ky there's a really interesting paternity/custody/visitation case, highlighted on Diana Skaggs DivorceLawJournal, where the bio-dad has started a blog (see below). And what makes the case even more interesting is the fact that the Ky Supreme Court stayed the lower court proceedings over standing. By all accounts this is the first time the Supremes in Ky have stayed a family court proceeding. What makes it even more intriguing is the fact that the husband's father is a very well known attorney in the community. No wonder this case is the talk of the courthouse.
http://louisvilledivorce.typepad.com/info/2007/05/litigant_blogs_.html 6/1/2007 4:20 PM | B.Ross