- Lights, camera, action! - 05 Feb 08
- Boosting your SEO appeal - 04 Feb 08
- Winning pitches - 04 Feb 08
- Is your business getting the full benefits of third party commentary? - 31 Jan 08
- Corporate identity? - 27 Jan 08
- Call Minder - 08 Jan 08
- Call in the experts early - 04 Dec 07
- Your share price - 27 Nov 07
- Will clients pay more? - 20 Nov 07
- Striking the balance - 13 Nov 07
- Northern Rock - 06 Nov 07
- Address to impress - 30 Oct 07
Striking the balance between internal and external PR support
A view from the legal sector by Renagh Christopher
“I would rather bathe 500 lepers than shake hands with a journalist” Mother Teresa said; there are lawyers today who whilst not entirely sharing Mother Teresa’s view would certainly empathise. The reason is quite simple. Reputation is tantamount in the professional services sector, where M&A activity continues at a steady rate and the drive for profits is relentless. One legal weekly editor commented to me some time ago that the role of the legal trade press was to make highly profitable law firms accountable, preferably to the same degree FTSE companies are. I admired the sentiment. Why should law firms which account for £14.9 billion or 1.4% of the UK’s GDP1 hide behind the burquah of partnership, rather than the relatively transparent veil of corporate identity? The editor I spoke to, and her colleagues in the legal press in the UK, have since won the battle, aided by a trend within law firms to convert to LLPs (limited liability partnerships) following some spectacular dissolutions of established firms including Coudert Brothers, Brobeck and accountancy firm Anderson.