Navigating the New Reality: A Strategic Guide for Law Firm Leaders to Handle Political and Social Issues

Estimated listening time: 8 minutes

In recent years, the landscape for law firm leaders has dramatically changed, with increasing pressure to comment on political, social, and technological issues. Navigating this new reality requires a thoughtful approach and an unemotional framework for internal and external communications.

Law firm leaders often express concern over whether they signed up for the public commentator role, and many are uncomfortable with the potential repercussions on themselves and their firms.

As leaders, you may be confronted with decisions ranging from addressing major political events like the invasion of Ukraine, to commenting on advancing technologies such as generative AI. It’s crucial to develop a robust framework for handling these situations. Furia Rubel has developed a 12-step framework to help law firm leaders navigate these complex issues thoughtfully and confidently.

The 12-Step Framework

Identify Your Goal: Begin by understanding your primary objective. For instance, when Russia invaded Ukraine, many law firms were named in media stories and had to quickly decide whether to comment. The key goals for most firms were to keep their people safe and safeguard their reputations.
Know Your Audience: Determine who will be impacted by your message. This includes clients, employees, and broader community stakeholders. Ask: Who will be affected? Is our firm directly or indirectly impacted? Is it relevant to our business, practices, attorneys/professionals, clients or community? Can our response be a differentiator? Some law firms distinguished themselves by proactively addressing the implications and planning to use generative AI. These firms demonstrated thought leadership and showcased their commitment to innovation and technological proficiency. Those law firms positioned themselves as forward-thinking and client-centric by engaging in the discourse around generative AI, discussing its potential impacts on legal practices, and exploring its ethical considerations. This emphasis on cutting-edge technology enabled them to attract more technologically adept clients and to reassure existing clients of their ability to stay ahead of industry trends and challenges.
Evaluate Conflicts. Not all conflicts are ethical or legal. Some are perceived. It is important to look at every situation through a conflict lens. Ask, Do we have any conflicts that limit what we can say and/or do? What are the perceived vs. ethical conflicts? How does it affect our client base? How does it affect our employees? What are our policies?
Authority and Credibility: Not every issue is pertinent to your business. Assess whether the topic directly affects your firm or clients and whether your firm has the authority and/or credibility to speak about the issues. Also, ask what expertise or unique perspectives you bring to the conversation and if those perspectives are of value to a larger audience.
Intentions: Law firm leaders must determine their intentions. Ask: What do we stand for? Why do we want to speak up? Are our motivations aligned with our firm’s values and long-term mission? For example, in a situation like the Israel/Gaza conflict, you need to identify your goals, audience, conflicts, authority and credibility, and then your intentions. For most international firms, their goals are to make sure that their people are safe, and their intentions are to remain neutral and to provide support for people on all sides of issues.
Impact: The impact of your actions or inactions is an important consideration in the 12-step decision-making framework. You must ask: What impact do we hope to achieve by speaking up or remaining silent? What is the impact if we remain silent? How will we support our words with actions? This is most important because we often see a law firm with a quote in the media and maybe two or three months later, nothing happened. This happens when the executive committee isn’t able to make the change happen because they’ve run into conflict. Half the executive committee says yes, the other half says no, and they get nowhere. However, the original statement is still public.
Stakeholder Considerations: While many executive committee members think they are the only stakeholders, there any many stakeholders who care about the firm’s actions and inactions. It is important to ask how partners, employees, clients, courts, referral sources, media, and others will react to your firm’s position or silence. Ask: Have we considered their diverse perspectives? Does our response have integrity, or will it be perceived as performative? Many U.S. firms spoke out publicly when George Floyd was murdered. However, many of those same firms said nothing when lesser known innocents like Philando Castile or Tyre Nichols were murdered. Were their words about George Floyd and racism performative? That is for you to decide.
Consistency: Like stakeholder considerations, consistency is key. Ask: Are we consistent in our stance or silence on similar issues? What have we said in similar situations? Are we speaking out on some issues and not others, and if so, why?
Risks: As with all statements and silence, you need to evaluate the risks. Know what they are and ask if you are prepared for backlash or controversy. How will you respond to criticism or negative feedback? Is your law firm willing to tackle a potential lawsuit?
Partnerships and Support: In many instances, a joint statement on behalf of a group of law firms will hold more credibility and have a stronger impact than when a firm stands alone. The same is true when all law firms agree not to speak about a particular topic and stand in solidarity. Identify if you have partnerships with credible organizations to lend expertise and legitimacy to your position. Determine how you can support one another in your approach. Also, understand that not all firms can speak out with the same voice as there may be conflicts (perceived or otherwise). For example, law firms in the U.S. that represent state-funded entities may choose not to speak out against the state’s government when it enacts overreaching or overly conservative legislation – even if the majority of the lawyers disagree with the legislation. It’s the tightrope that law firms walk every day!
Communication Strategy: Once you have determined your answers to the first 10 areas of this framework, you must determine how your law firm will communicate its position. While law firm leaders should be the spokespersons, this is the time when you should rely most heavily on your legal communications teams (both internal and external). They will know how to communicate the firm’s position, how to focus on the facts, what channels to use, and the best tone and messaging that will reach your target audience.
Monitoring and Evaluation: Actions are only as good as the outputs. Determine how you will monitor the impact of your actions and what metrics you will use to assess the effectiveness. You also must determine how you will adjust your strategy if necessary. This, too, can best be handled by your law firm’s internal or external legal communications teams.

Implementing the Framework

Law firm leaders should create decision-making protocols based on this framework. This involves understanding the firm’s culture, goals, and the diverse perspectives of all stakeholders. When addressing the Israeli-Gaza conflict, for example, the focus should be internal on the safety and emotional needs of your employees and their families rather than rushing to make a public statement. Moreover, firms should embrace transparency and authenticity. An honest, empathetic approach can build trust within your firm and with your clients, far beyond the immediate crisis. Having a predetermined communication strategy can also aid in this process, providing clarity and direction.

Leading a law firm in today’s complex environment requires more than just traditional legal acumen. It entails a nuanced understanding of how to communicate effectively on a range of social and political issues. By following a structured framework and focusing on empathy, integrity, and consistency, law firm leaders can navigate these challenges effectively, maintaining both their firm’s reputation and the trust of their stakeholders.