How to Get Your Way with Lawyers

Lawyers are paid to say no. 

PR people are paid to say yes. 

Even if these stereotypes are only half true, it can make for an unproductive and contentious relationship when lawyers and communications professionals intersect. 

I first encountered lawyers in the workplace when I became the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission spokesman in 1997. From that government job of four years to my 17+ years as head of global communications at The Carlyle Group to life as a communications consultant these past seven years, I’ve had to engage with lawyers on a near-daily basis. 

In our litigious, risk-averse, law- and regulation-driven society, it’s no wonder lawyers seem to be everywhere and well-earning their "abominable no-man" reputations. 

What’s a comms person to do: Avoid the lawyers? Concede the fight? 

The former strategy may work initially, but seeking forgiveness rather than permission is not a long-term solution. 

The latter approach robs the organization of a strategic voice that sees potential, while others prioritize downside risk. 

There is another path: co-option. 

Here are my top three lessons learned from nearly 30 years of dealing with very smart, senior in-house and external counsel who love the organization or client as much as you do, but show their love differently. 

Empathy: Lawyers are not the enemy – you’re on the same team. 

• Lawyers may seem like parents who constantly lecture and admonish, slapping the hands of unruly children and steering others away from oncoming traffic. To the extent the stereotype has become reality, it’s probably because communications people (hopefully not you) flew too close to the sun and burned themselves or the organization. 

• Lawyers have a job to do: protect the organization from legal harm, which, depending on the circumstances, can range from lawsuits and fines to public admonishment and prison. And remember, at least indirectly, lawyers help ward off reputational harm, which intersects perfectly with what comms people are hired to do. 

• So, comms people should start from the position that they and lawyers have the same end goals – a thriving organization – but have different tools, approaches, and risk tolerance. If lawyers better understand and appreciate what comms people do, they will view you as an ally and partner versus an unruly, even dangerous, colleague needing to be contained. 

Knowledge: He who has knowledge has power. 

• Knowledge differentials lead to power differentials. Whoever has more knowledge has more power. Lawyers, especially those in highly regulated sectors such as healthcare and finance, are typically steeped in legal and regulatory minutiae. You want to do X and they cite five laws, rules, and regulations that say why you can’t. 

• In private equity, most funds – known as private placements – are exempt from registration with the SEC if certain public communication rules are adhered to throughout the capital raising process. These rules are the bane of every PR person in private equity because they give lawyers cover to effectively shut down public communications anywhere in the vicinity of raising capital. That is, unless the PR person thoroughly understands the rules and can go mano-a-mano with the lawyers. 

• I learned the ins and outs of the private placement rules by asking tons of questions of my lawyer colleagues (thanks [tag] Jeff, Joanne, and Cathy), enabling me to become conversant in the intent and specifics of the rules and fully aware of the dire consequences of a blown private placement. 

• As a result, our conversations were productive – though sometimes tense – enabling us to achieve resolutions that protected the firm from legal and regulatory harm while harnessing strategic communications to manage the firm’s brand. 

Compromise: 90% of something is better than 100% of nothing. 

• Did I always get exactly what I wanted? No, but empathy and knowledge gave me 90-95% of what I wanted. My father taught me that 90% of something is better than 100% of nothing. 

• Talk to a lawyer about business, especially subjects with lots of gray area, and the word “comfort” soon enters the conversation. Lawyers are fond of talking about their comfort levels, as in I’m not comfortable with this approach or I think I can get comfortable with it. 

• Like a good therapist, I entered most contentious conversations with questions, not statements: What concerns you? What rules apply in this situation? Once I fully appreciated the concerns, I floated options: How about this approach? Or this one? We usually came to a mutually satisfactory conclusion, but sometimes, we got external counsel on the phone for a gut check or to break an impasse. It helped that I had previously worked at the SEC and was known to seek permission rather than forgiveness. 

• I’m proud to say that in nearly 18 years at Carlyle, my team was never the cause of a private placement problem. And no one would say Carlyle was shy about communicating publicly while fundraising. 

Conclusion 

If you want to hear “yes” more often from your lawyer colleagues, start with empathy, become an expert, and embrace compromise. In doing so, you’ll get most of what you want and help change the somewhat well-deserved reputation of PR people as having too much sizzle and not enough substance.