Author: Neil Rose

It used to be one of the gentlemanly niceties of the legal PR world that a 100-partner firm acquiring a two-partner practice would still be referred to as a merger. But times have changed and few offer that pretence any longer. As a report last week from accountants MHA noted: “Whilst the reality has always been that a true merger rarely exists, there appears to have been a recent acceptance that deals are in fact acquisitions.” Otherwise, the language of M&A is much the same. There are plenty of deals every year, so you need to put some work in to make yours stand out. Here are a few tips.

Perhaps the hardest part of the Black Letter Communications ‘In Conversation’ event last month for both me and the Law Society Gazette’s John Hyde was being asked to say something nice about each other. It’s not that we don’t respect what the other does (at least I think he does) but as reporters who cover similar beats, there is naturally a bit of professional rivalry. But in large part, we were in agreement as we debated the legal market and the state of legal journalism.

Did you know that 42% of Brits admit they cannot remember the last time they laughed out loud, while 32% believe they haven’t as much as giggled in the last month? Well, it’s true, according to Sky TV last year. How about that 51% of people consider a Jaffa Cake to be a biscuit and only 38% see it as a cake ? Journalists love a survey. It’s easy, often eye-catching copy that pretty much writes itself. For that reason, those looking for publicity love a survey too – it can hammer home a message, be an understandable way into a difficult or staid topic, or show you’re a bit of fun.

Part of life as a journalist is going up to people in a social setting and someone laughing, “Oh, careful what you say now! He’s going to quote you!” To which I always reply, with a forced smile: “Don’t worry, you’re off the record.” The whole business of ‘off the record’, ‘unattributable’ and ‘on background’ is a murky one because these phrases can mean slightly different things to different people. There’s no industry standard as such. So, a key legal PR tip is that, if you are giving a journalist information that you don’t want them to quote you saying, be very clear in advance about the basis on which you are speaking and how your words can be used, if at all.