A company’s legal affairs have an increasing impact on its brand and reputation. In today’s vast and rapidly evolving information environment, litigation or regulatory action targeting a company can quickly generate articles, posts, and threads that catch the attention of interested and empowered stakeholders. At that point, merely asking your public relations agency or chief marketing officer to pitch a positive story will have little effect—and most likely will backfire. If a company prepares a legal defense without also preparing to control the public narrative around it, the damage to the company’s brand and business could overshadow an eventual victory in court.

Luckily for GCs grappling with their expanding responsibilities, the same elements required to win in the court of law are essential to shaping the public narrative around legal affairs. While communications strategies and tactics always need to complement the legal approach and support broader business objectives, the following considerations can help GCs adequately account for reputation risk and face public litigation with greater confidence.

1. Commit to active engagement in the court of public opinion (before the litigation begins).

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