Whether you're starting a new role or have been with your organization for years, here's a strategy sure to advance your career: Make friends with the lawyers.
In "Managing PR & Legal Concerns," a Webinar presented last week by PR NEWS, we covered the critical importance of fostering consistent communications with the legal team.
Forging these relationships before a crisis strikes can help advance your communications agenda if and when it does.
Jan Drummond, senior director of external communications for Sears Roebuck & Co., offered the following advice for nurturing what could be one of the most important
professional relationships of your career:
- Manage expectations about media coverage.
- Position yourself as a resource to legal by:
1. Offering occasional PR updates on hot media issues at law department meetings;
2. Sensitizing attorneys to monitor issues for indications of media interest and encouraging them to call on PR for a consultation. - Create and maintain a candid and open environment for discussion.
- Don't settle for "no comment;" find a way to inject positive information in every media issue with a legal aspect.
(Contact: Drummond, [email protected])
Editor's Note: Look for full coverage of this Webinar in next week's issue of PR NEWS.