Most U.S. companies lack a formal crisis communications plan, meaning your firm is likely unprepared if a reputational emergency hits. If you haven’t actively formalized your strategy for law firm crisis communications, you aren’t alone. We asked two veteran consultants for advice on the specific scenarios firms must navigate in 2026—and the smartest ways to proactively prep for potential liabilities.
Highlights
- A Situation is Not Always a Crisis: Not every high-stress event requires an immediate public response. Success hinges on a firm’s ability to take a breath, analyze verified facts, and deploy an intentional, strategic message rather than an emotional reaction.
- Tabletop Exercises Reveal Crucial Blind Spots: Simply having a written plan on a shelf is insufficient. Firms must actively run realistic simulations—complete with digital curveballs like media leaks and social media escalation—to train spokespeople and establish an explicit chain of command.
- Specialized Legal PR is Mandatory: General marketing is fundamentally different from crisis management. Law firms must engage communicators who understand the constraints of attorney-client privilege, state ethical obligations, and litigation sensitivities.
Law Firm Crisis Communications Must-Knows: The Experts Explain
Attorneys often play a pivotal role in crisis response for clients, yet many law firms neglect to plan for their own contingencies. In an era where hybrid work structures, cloud-based data systems, and shifting workspace dynamics are standard operational practice, the potential for high-stress, low-trust situations abounds. These threats emerge not just through high-profile client litigation, but through everyday operations; historically, up to 40% of law firms have been the target of a data breach.
You can’t control whether an emergency occurs, but you can control how you respond to it. Because you do not deal with operational emergencies every day (we hope), there’s considerable value in executing proactive law firm crisis communications by engaging an experienced specialist before trouble strikes. An outside advisor helps you anticipate modern systemic vulnerabilities, respond appropriately, and minimize fallout.
We asked veteran crisis communications consultants, Elizabeth Lampert and Amy Jordan Wooden, to address what lawyers should look for in a consultant, how to prepare for the unexpected, and what types of exposure law firms face today.
Is it a Crisis or a Situation?
How would you define a “crisis”? What are the tripwires for lawyers or law firms to seek expert counsel?
Lampert: A crisis is any event, anticipated or unexpected, that threatens a law firm’s operations, reputation, or client trust. This can include partner misconduct, data breaches, public client matters, and sudden political fallout. The key question is: does this situation have the potential for significant reputational or legal harm if not managed swiftly and strategically? Often, firm leadership is dealing with an isolated situation rather than a full-scale crisis.
Jordan Wooden: I think a crisis is any situation that has the potential to negatively affect the business, organization, or entity. Sometimes a crisis is unexpected, and sometimes it is fully expected but avoidable. But how a crisis is handled makes all the difference in the world.
In a time of crisis, the baseline human inclination is often to “hunker down.” An outside advisor can help guide the law firm away from that defensive mentality and navigate the intricate public relations channels of the event.
What should law firms look for in a crisis communications specialist?
Jordan Wooden: Marketing and crisis management are on two opposite ends of the communication spectrum! I often joke that if I had to sell laundry detergent, I wouldn’t know the first thing to do. But if someone swallows laundry detergent and faces an emergency, I’m your gal. I think it is crucial to look for:
- Verified, hands-on experience in high-stakes crisis response (how many years, and is it the bulk of their business?).
- Deep subject matter understanding of the legal landscape.
Lampert: Law firms need someone deeply experienced in this specific niche. You want a professional who fundamentally understands legal privilege and litigation sensitivity—someone who knows how to collaborate seamlessly with your internal legal team to protect reputations while respecting broader legal strategy. Look for a specialist with legal industry experience, relevant sector knowledge, media training tailored specifically to attorneys, and a clear familiarity with law firm hierarchies and risk tolerance.
Practicing for a Crisis
You speak of the importance of tabletop exercises. What do these look like for those new to crisis prep?
Lampert: A tabletop exercise is a structured simulation of an emergency designed to test a firm’s response protocols. It starts with a fictional but highly realistic crisis scenario that is revealed in real-time to a designated response group (comprising legal, PR, IT, HR, and executive leadership). The group then role-plays reactions to a series of escalating developments, media inquiries, client questions, and internal stakeholder reactions.
Jordan Wooden: To quote Allen Iverson, “We’re talkin’ about practice?!?” Yes, Allen, we are. A tabletop exercise is simply that—practicing for an emergency. Running a tabletop exercise will pressure-test every aspect of your modern, hybrid operational workflow and your response plan in a low-risk environment.
You definitely do not want a managing partner to do an interview with the news media regarding a sensitive matter without rehearsal. Ensuring your chosen spokespeople have targeted law firm crisis communications training as part of a simulation is the best way to safeguard the firm.
Lampert: I always suggest assigning someone to take meticulous notes or recording the session entirely. This preparation method builds genuine operational confidence when you find yourself in the actual hot seat, and it highlights clear areas for improvement. The debrief session afterward is incredibly valuable for uncovering organizational blind spots and clarifying the chain of command.
What scenarios should law firms prepare for in tabletop exercises?
Lampert: Law firms should prepare for high-probability issues like complex ransomware attacks, public allegations of harassment or workplace discrimination, partner or associate misconduct, and operational disruptions stemming from sudden mergers, layoffs, or unexpected leadership changes. Additionally, current global infrastructure trends highlight the importance of preparing for localized severe weather, fires, and catastrophic environmental disruptions—meaning you must test rapid communication channels with remote staff, client data accessibility, and recovery systems.
Jordan Wooden: Regardless of the scenario, a good tabletop exercise must include a few curveballs—developments you wouldn’t typically expect or that challenge the basic plan sitting on your shelf. For instance, I always include a media leak as an escalating curveball. It is incredibly easy for information to reach a digital reporter today, and long gone are the days when every journalist would ensure they have two named, confirmed sources before breaking a story. We live in an “unnamed source close to the situation” media ecosystem. Depending on the scenario, you could also throw in an industry influencer weighing in on their social media channel, which can accelerate a local issue into a national problem overnight.
Keep Calm and Trust the Process
What’s your best piece of advice for staying calm in a crisis?
Jordan Wooden: Remember what you can and cannot control. Also, never lose sight of who your core audiences are, and identify the most critical messages you want to convey. Although you have to move on parallel tracks during an emergency, focusing on those fundamental communication goals creates a level of familiarity that translates directly into calm authority.
Lampert: Take a breath, assess the verified facts, and align thoroughly with counsel before making significant statements or sudden public moves. Assuming you have conducted your tabletop exercises and your response protocols are in place, trust the process. In my experience, not every situation requires an immediate public response, but every situation demands an intentional, strategic one.
Law Firm Crisis Communications FAQ
Want Help With a Marketing Question of Your Own?
Do you have a marketing topic you’d like to “Ask the Experts” about? Contact Katherine (Katie) Hollar Barnard at khb@firesignmarketing.com.
Related Communications Advice on Attorney at Work:
- How Crises Affect Law Firm Leaders — and Some Helpful Resources by Gina Rubel
- Stand in the Shoes of a Reporter to Generate Meaningful Law Firm PR by Jay Harrington
- How to Get the Best Out of Your Public Relations Firm by Josh Peck
Featured image licensed under the Unsplash+ License
