For individuals and corporate entities alike, lawsuits arise from interactions with other parties. Some of these interactions involve prominent parties. Thus, the ensuing lawsuits will attract the attention of the media. Other times, these interactions arise under interesting circumstances or involve novel applications of the law. Here too, the ensuing lawsuits will attract the attention of the media. When defending these lawsuits in a court of law, attorneys would not dream of missing an opportunity to use any and all tools available to them in the course of their defense.
But something different happens when attorneys are faced with making their clients’ cases in the court of public opinion. Attorneys are notoriously gun shy when it comes to commenting publicly on lawsuits in which their clients are involved. In keeping quiet, attorneys allow opposing parties to shape the public narrative through court filings and media statements. Often, the best an attorney will do when confronted with the opportunity to make a public statement about litigation involving his client is to describe the allegations as being “without merit,” and promising to “vigorously defend” the lawsuit. Calling such a statement a “statement” is being charitable. It is really a “nonstatement statement”—a close cousin of the Watergate-era “nondenial denial.”
