Objectives
Osbornes Law is a leading law firm with a national and international client base across personal injury, medical negligence, family, private client, property litigation and residential and commercial conveyancing. With offices in Camden and Hampstead, the firm employs 160 staff and has been helping private clients for the past five decades.
The management team approached Black Letter Communications (BLC) in 2019 to help drive the firm’s growth, showcase the fantastic work it does for clients and give it a greater voice in the media. BLC created a sustained campaign to publicise all of the firm’s departments across national, regional and trade media. To this end there is rarely a week that goes by when Osbornes is not mentioned in the press.
What we did
BLC devised a PR strategy focusing on the firm’s strong human-interest cases in the practice areas where clients were willing to speak out, such as in personal injury and medical negligence. Where cases were not as readily available, such as family and private client, we targeted national print and broadcast personal wealth media with monthly topical issues-based press releases, keeping the firm front of mind for comment amongst journalists on key legal issues.
We began by giving the partners and fee earners an in-depth understanding of the PR process, how the media works and what was needed to maximise coverage for the firm. We ran a series of interactive workshops with each team, using our many years of combined journalistic and PR experience to explain how we could get their expertise and cases into the media. We also used the sessions to gather stories which garnered instant results in the form of strong national media coverage. Thereafter, BLC has continued to run regular PR refreshers, attend team meetings and meet fee-earners individually, keeping the flow of stories from the firm coming across all departments.
Most recently, we have delivered media training sessions to prepare lawyers for interviews with journalists and, in addition to traditional media, hosted a LinkedIn workshop to show fee earners can get the most out of the social media platform.
We continue to draw on our expertise in working with law firm clients – some of whom are vulnerable, injured or traumatised – to help them tell their personal stories by drafting press releases and comments and offering media advice. We recently supported the parents of a young girl operated on multiple times by a now-suspended surgeon at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge who is currently at the centre of a major investigation. This resulted in multiple pieces of coverage in national and broadcast media including The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Mail Online, Sky News, BBC and ITV. Coverage featured the family and their lawyer who has since been instructed by others who were operated on by the same surgeon.
BLC also supports those who are thrown into the media spotlight, perhaps due to a court case, inquiry or inquest, and do not want press intrusion. By employing a series of media tactics, honed over many years, BLC helps shield clients from the media, while also shaping the story to the client and the firm’s benefit. These include supporting the parents of a 14-year-old boy through the court case of the motorist who caused his death by dangerous driving, and helping multiple families caught up in some of the most high-profile maternity scandals of recent years, including in Basildon and Shrewsbury.
For those departments unable to talk about their cases due to confidentiality clauses or anonymity orders, BLC regularly meets with teams and individuals to uncover topics that may be of interest to the media. This has resulted in monthly press releases which have been covered by the personal wealth sections of national media including The Financial Times, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror and The Daily and Sunday Express. This regular flow of press releases also resulted in the firm starting to receive requests from national consumer journalists for the likes of The I and The Daily Telegraph in need of legal experts to answer reader questions and provide comment.
Since being retained by Osbornes Law, BLC has achieved more than 5,000 pieces of coverage across national, regional and trade publications as well as on broadcast media. This activity has not only increased website traffic and boosted SEO by strengthening the firm’s online reputation but has also led to direct client instructions. More recently, and in line with the firm’s objectives, we have focused on offering exclusives to top tier titles and, on average, Osbornes’ experts appear in the national media at least once a week. Working closely with lawyers, we also target the media most likely to be seen by prospective clients in their chosen practice areas, from the homes and property pages of the Evening Standard to FT Adviser, Professional Adviser and IFA Magazine.
Chris Aubeeluck, Head of Business Development at Osbornes Law, said: “Working with Black Letter has undoubtedly increased the firm’s profile in the media and improved knowledge across the firm of what it takes to get into the press. The results speak for themselves as there isn’t a week that goes by that Osbornes isn’t mentioned in the national press. Black Letter’s ability to root out stories and draft engaging press releases has been integral to our success.”
