Fred Krebs of the Association of Corporate Counsel’s In-House Access blog published an interesting recent post on “Dealing with the Media.”  His blog post has some great pointers about what it means to speak with the media “on background,” keeping answers short, remembering that discussions with PR people within the company might not be privileged, and avoiding engaging your adversary through the media (particularly the DOJ or a state attorney general).  Most in-house and outside counsel deal with media communications only occasionally, so this is a good list to keep handy for when this comes up. 

Class actions and high-profile insurance coverage litigation, particularly catastrophe-related insurance litigation, can frequently result in media inquiries.  I’ve dealt with this on a number of occasions and have some additional thoughts beyond what ACC has to say: 

  • Some companies only want in-house PR professionals to speak to the media and keep outside counsel (and sometimes even in-house counsel) entirely out of those communications.  The danger there is that PR professionals, while trained to deal with the media, often do not have a thorough understanding of legal issues or litigation.  Unlike lawyers who are accustomed to predicting what questions a judge will ask in litigation and having answers ready, PR professionals are not versed in that.  Sometimes they will say something to the media that is not quite correct, or will not be able to clarify a reporter’s misunderstanding of legal procedure or a legal issue.  On the other hand, lawyers sometimes may have difficulty translating legal jargon for reporters not familiar with the law, and may not anticipate how the media might react to some types of answers.  One approach I’ve seen that can be effective is to have outside counsel and the PR professional prepare together and then speak to the media together, at least “on background” if not “on the record.”  This can sometimes avoid these types of problems.
  • Some companies almost never comment on pending litigation.  While that may avoid mistakes, it can also become a disaster.  A consumer-minded reporter who hasn’t heard the real story or the full story can write a scathing article that says at the end “the company declined to comment.”  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a favorable (or even fair) article about an insurance lawsuit that says the company declined to comment.
  • If you deal regularly with the media, I recommend following the Bulletproof Blog.  I read that occasionally and it offers good tips on corporate communications. 
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Photo of Wystan Ackerman Wystan Ackerman

I am a partner at the law firm of Robinson+Cole in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.  My contact information is on the contact page of my blog.  I really enjoy receiving questions, comments, suggestions and even criticism from readers.  So please e-mail me if you…

I am a partner at the law firm of Robinson+Cole in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.  My contact information is on the contact page of my blog.  I really enjoy receiving questions, comments, suggestions and even criticism from readers.  So please e-mail me if you have something to say.  For those looking for my detailed law firm bio, click here.  If you want a more light-hearted and hopefully more interesting summary, read on:

People often ask about my unusual first name, Wystan.  It’s pronounced WISS-ten.  It’s not Winston.  There is no “n” in the middle.  It comes from my father’s favorite poet, W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden.  I’ve grown to like the fact that because my name is unusual people tend to remember it better, even if they don’t pronounce it right (and there is no need for anyone to use my last name because I’m always the only Wystan).

I grew up in Deep River, Connecticut, a small town on the west side of the Connecticut River in the south central part of the state.  I’ve always had strong interests in history, politics and baseball.  My heroes growing up were Abraham Lincoln and Wade Boggs (at that time the third baseman for the Boston Red Sox).  I think it was my early fascination with Lincoln that drove me to practice law.  I went to high school at The Williams School in New London, Connecticut, where I edited the school newspaper, played baseball, and was primarily responsible for the installation of a flag pole near the school entrance (it seemed like every other school had one but until my class raised the money and bought one at my urging, Williams had no flag pole).  As a high school senior, my interest in history and politics led me to score high enough on a test of those subjects to be chosen as one of Connecticut’s two delegates to the U.S. Senate Youth Program, which further solidified my interest in law and government.  One of my mentors at Williams was of the view that there were far too many lawyers and I should find something more useful to do, but if I really had to be a lawyer there was always room for one more.  I eventually decided to be that “one more.”  I went on to Bowdoin College, where I wrote for the Bowdoin Orient and majored in government, but took a lot of math classes because I found college math interesting and challenging.  I then went to Columbia Law School, where I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the minions who spent their time fastidiously cite-checking and Blue booking hundred-plus-page articles in the Columbia Law Review.  I also interned in the chambers of then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor when she was a relatively new judge on the Second Circuit, my only connection to someone who now has one-ninth of the last word on what constitutes the law of our land.  I graduated from Columbia in 2001, then worked at Skadden Arps in Boston before returning to Connecticut and joining Robinson+Cole, one of the largest Connecticut-based law firms.  At the end of 2008, I was elected a partner at Robinson+Cole.

I’ve worked on class actions since the start of my career.  Being in the insurance capital of Hartford, we have a national insurance litigation practice and most of the class actions I’ve defended have been brought against insurance companies. I’ve also handled some involving products liability, managed care, health care, utilities, financial services, higher education and environmental issues.

My insurance class action practice usually takes me outside of Connecticut.  I’ve had the pleasure of working on cases in various federal and state courts and collaborating with great lawyers across the country.  While class actions are an increasingly large part of my practice, I don’t do exclusively class action work.  The rest of my practice involves litigating insurance coverage cases, often at the appellate level.  That also frequently takes me outside of Connecticut.  A highlight of my career thus far was working on Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles, the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Class Action Fairness Act case.  I was Counsel of Record for Standard Fire on the cert petition, and had the pleasure of working with Ted Boutrous on the merits briefing and oral argument.

I started this blog because writing is one of my favorite things to do and I enjoy following developments in class action law, writing about them and engaging in discussion with others who have an in interest in this area.  It’s a welcome break from day-to-day practice, keeps me current, broadens my network and results in some new business.

When I’m not at work, you might find me running lines or watching a musical with my teenage daughter who hopes to be a Broadway star (or taking her to voice or dance lessons) or reading a good book.