Litigation PR: Everything You Need To Know, You Can Learn From Worms

Want cogent evidence that good praseodymium accomplishments are just as of import as legal acumen when facing a lawsuit?

TerraCycle is using a blog as portion of its response to a lawsuit brought by Scotts Miracle-Gro. The Trenton, N.J.-based company, which do fertilisers from worm droppings, supplies a great lawsuit survey in the usage of public dealings as portion of a judicial proceeding strategy.

According to The Wall Street Journal:

"[O]verall company gross sales for the four hebdomads since the online political campaign launched surged 122% from the immediately former four hebdomads ... Meantime, TerraCycle's chief Web site, which averages out about 1,000 visitants a day, have spiked to as high as 13,000, according to the company—and 2% to 4% of the visitants to suedbyscotts.com chink the 'purchase online' or 'store locator' links."

(Of course, involvement in the website and the company should only increase now that they've gotten a reference in the Journal.)

Score 1 for transparence and unfastened dialogue.

The TerraCycle lawsuit exemplifies that judicial proceeding praseodymium is indispensable for any concern facing a high-profile lawsuit. Even if a company anticipates to win its case, it stand ups to lose a great trade more if it doesn't pay attending to the Court of Populace Opinion.

Sixteen old age ago, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antony Jack Kennedy suggested in Gentile v. State Barroom of Silver State that lawyers have got not only a right, but perhaps a duty to publicly advocator for clients. Now more than than ever, the convergence of law and the news mass media is clear.

With a 24-hour news rhythm and a popular captivation with legal controversies, a company must protect its reputational assets. Many lawyers worry about publicly telling any information because it could be used against their client or tip the other side about their judicial proceeding strategy. Certainly, attention necessitates to be exercised when speech production with the press. But a "no comment" simply won't suffice. The public volition presume the worst – that the company is hiding something. Bad promotion can drive down stock prices.

Additionally, surveys demo that mass media insurance influences prospective jurors. It can also raise the bet of a trial from the position of the state. Judges are not immune to the influences of publicity, and neither are lawmakers.

Plead the Fifth in the Court of Populace Opinion at your ain peril.