Legal Communications Round-Table Discussion
by Sonali Arora, Associate Consultant
In May, we were delighted to host the first in a series of roundtable events for the corporate affairs industry. As the professional services lead in the team, I invited multiple Heads of Communications from the legal sphere to our office for a fruitful roundtable discussion (with breakfast bagels!)
The event saw representatives from the likes of Linklaters, Hogan Lovells, Wedlake Bell and Travers Smith in attendance, and there were some very interesting debates! I thought I’d share some of the highlights from the discussion.
Overlap of remits
The communications function of any firm, and particularly a law firm, typically includes several teams, working on varied tasks and in different parts of the world. An interesting topic that came up was the noticeable overlap of responsibilities between teams. The use of social media, for example, can be part of a content creation team, PR team or digital team.
Without a clear indication as to what the remits of each team should be, it can be difficult for a Head of Communications to delegate and guide teams efficiently.
The importance of influencers in an ever-changing market
The discussion entailed different views, but everyone seemed to agree on one key market trend: that the presence of influencers is becoming increasingly evident in society. Now more than ever, information about working for a specific company can be found just as easily on Instagram and TikTok as on the company website. It raises the question of whether influencers can play a part in a law firm’s brand and to support hiring. Some commented that perhaps firms can work alongside influencers to help enhance a firm’s reputation and to increase the talent pool when it comes to graduate recruitment.
Is the media relations piece becoming a lost art?
A large section of the event included a discussion about whether media relations, typically seen as the bread and butter of PR, is dissipating as a skill. As a headhunter, I often take role briefings from agency clients that require any prospective candidate to show a palpable passion for liaising with journalists, but the legal representatives at the roundtable commented that their in-house teams are placing less emphasis on meeting with journalists; rather, media relations is simply becoming an email exchange. Why? Well, the pandemic, particularly the remote working pattern that we all adapted to, caused a shift in the way PRs view their work. Namely, conducting meetings over Zoom proved that a lot of someone’s remit could be conducted remotely. However, in the world of PR and Communications, perhaps the art of meeting journalists in person is one that should be upheld. After all, the most sincere and robust connections come from in-person meetings, as we have experienced when meeting our candidates in person!
The roundtable was one of many events to come. It was great to see so many senior PR professionals from the legal sector come together – here’s to the next one!
MadlinHanna Consulting is a recruitment consultancy specialising in public affairs, corporate communications and financial PR. Contact us in London on +44 (0) 20 8088 4102 or in Brussels on +32 (0) 2 586 38 98 for more information or a confidential conversation about these services and more.