WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER LET A LAWYER WRITE YOUR SPEECH OR PRESS STATEMENT DURING A CRISIS | PUBLIC SPEAKING | PRESENTATION SKILLS

Lawyers can be some wonderful and intelligent individuals and important friends as they help you out in your jams and keep you from going to prison. But if your organization has gone through a crisis and the whole world and media are focused on you, I highly recommend you to avoid letting a lawyer write the statement that you plan on giving to the media.

 

I have seen countless major corporations such as airlines and oil companies in the very recent past respond during times of crisis with statements that have quite obviously been written by lawyers. Here is the problem, lawyers are experts at the law and are very good at convincing a judge to not fine or imprison you. But the reality is that if you are a modern day corporation or institution, it is not enough to stay out of prison. You have to gain the support of your customers, the public, regulators, and government officials. If everybody hates you, you will be out of business. Lawyers have their own language that does not mean anything to most ordinary audiences. If you are in a crisis, your biggest objective has to be to not lose the goodwill of your customers and prospective investors.

 

Hiring a lawyer to write a statement is like hiring a surgeon to paint your house. Let your lawyer look at the statement you plan on giving to the public and validate it but what is needed in a time of crisis is for you to acknowledge what has happened, show some remorse for anyone who has been hurt, talk about how you are investigating to prevent it in the future, and reassure people that your company is going to behave honourably.

 

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