In today’s fast-paced media landscape, high-profile disputes are increasingly fought not just in the courtroom but also in the court of public opinion. Social media, 24-hour news cycles, and coordinated online campaigns have dramatically changed the nature of reputation management. A recent panel discussion – hosted by Byfield in partnership with TL4 – brought together legal, PR, and investigative experts to discuss how to navigate these challenges effectively. Here are some key takeaways.
1.The Modern Challenges of Reputation Management
Disputes and Investigations are growing increasingly high-profile in nature and attract increasing media attention. As the UK and Europe becomes increasingly litigious, and as the regulatory landscape tightens, managing public perception and protecting reputations is increasingly essential for navigating complex legal landscapes.
Gus Sellitto, founder of Byfield Consultancy, highlighted how the media landscape has transformed: “High-profile disputes today are increasingly played out in the court of public opinion, with details of those disputes often appearing on the pages of national and trade media and now across social media and 24-hour news.”
This represents a seismic shift compared to 20 or 25 years ago when news would break in newspapers before spreading further. Now, Sellitto noted, “you’re getting news and leaks and smear campaigns on social media before newspapers even pick those stories up.”
This shift raises critical questions: How do you bring together legal, PR, and intelligence strategies? And how do you effectively manage a client’s reputation before, during, and after a dispute?
2. Building an Early Strategy
Clients should engage with investigative and PR teams as early as possible before litigation enters the public domain. This helps to shape the overall legal and reputation management strategy proactively, maintaining control over the narrative. This is important not only in shielding clients from adverse publicity that sometimes accompanies litigation, but also in helping to maximise the impact of litigation in achieving their commercial goals.
Dina Hudson, a Senior Consultant at Byfield Consultancy, underscored the importance of involving PR specialists at an early stage: “Ideally, we should be called in as early as possible —before there’s any kind of active litigation, and certainly before there’s anything in the public domain. Clients are becoming more aware of the need to bring in PR and investigations specialists at an earlier stage and early alignment ensures the client is in a stronger position when a story breaks.”
Jess Alden, a senior associate at specialist reputation management law firm Slateford, stressed the importance of proactive planning and explained that the first step is mapping out key stakeholders and assessing reputational risks before litigation begins. “No one knows your client’s business or your client’s life better than they do. Early collaboration with PR and intelligence teams can help feed into the strategic decisions you make early on.”
Hudson described how PR strategies can either take a defensive or offensive approach. “Sometimes clients want the article taken down or an angry 17-page letter written to the journalist, but often the better solution is to relay facts to adjust their perspective or balance their reporting.”
She also stressed the importance of stakeholder mapping the clients’ audiences at an early stage: “PR professionals often think about stakeholder mapping and how different audiences need to be communicated with—when, and about what.”
3. Investigative Intelligence: Understanding Adversaries and Audiences
Once the key stakeholders and issues affecting them are framed, engaging with investigative teams becomes important. Investigative teams can encourage a degree of creative thinking as they provide a client with a deeper and more holistic understanding of the issue before them, challenging their preconceptions about a claim and can be used to feed into decisions taken about the legal and media strategy.
Nick Bortman, co-founder of Raedas, the investigations firm specialising in contentious work, shared insights on uncovering the forces behind reputational attacks: “The first question is, where’s this coming from? Who’s behind it? Who’s driving it?” He emphasized the importance of creative thinking:
“You shouldn’t presuppose the outcome of these things, because it’s never what you think.”
Bortman highlighted the need to consider the intended audience of a campaign. “In any kind of well-considered campaign, it’s often not just scattergun—it has a direction. There’s someone or some group of people it’s trying to reach,” he explained. This might be a business community, the public, or even a single judge making a decision in litigation.
4. The Media’s Perspective: Navigating Credibility and Smear Campaigns
Understanding adversaries and audiences also entails having an understanding of how the media works. This allows clients to engage in a process of open dialogue with journalists which can reframe the relationship away from an oppositional or adversarial relationship, making the relationship far more productive for both parties.
Adam Cannon, Legal Director at The Sun, offered a media perspective, clarifying that reputable newspapers do not engage in baseless smearing: “Newspapers go out to smear people? That’s not what we do… Claimant lawyers sometimes think that’s the case, but it’s not.”
However, Bortman acknowledged that social media and pay-to-play press can muddy the waters: “A campaign will often start with fake Twitter accounts or obscure outlets, and then it gets presented to credible outlets as evidence of public interest in a story” to which Cannon clarified that this is where it is crucial for journalists to work with the team behind them, including the PRs to verify the information.
5. Social Media: The “Wild West” of Reputation Management
Besides engaging with traditional media outlets, the team can also help to shape public perceptions through social media, which has become a central battlefield for reputation management.
Alden referred to platforms like X (formerly Twitter) as the “Wild West,” particularly since Elon Musk’s takeover. “Where you have a court order or an injunction, social media companies are usually quite compliant,” she explained. “But when you’re dealing with borderline cases—like defamation or privacy issues—it’s harder to get things removed quickly.”
Alden noted that social media attacks are sometimes highly coordinated:
“When it looks like a smear campaign—lots of anonymous accounts, funding trails, and inauthentic behaviour—that’s when we dig deeper. Legal mechanisms, such as court orders for disclosure, can help uncover who’s behind these campaigns.”
This is where PR teams can help to supplement legal solutions, by proactively shaping the narrative on social media channels, through reactive statements and rebuttal strategies. SEO tools can also be employed to help minimise the reach of undesirable content.
Bortman emphasised the importance of broader strategies: “Is it better to play whack-a-mole, or to figure out who’s behind it? That’s where investigative intelligence and legal discovery can be really potent.”
6. The delicate act of employing legal tools
While legal tools can be helpful for clients navigating complex litigation, these legal tools often come with accompanying reputational risks, which further demonstrates the importance of aligning the legal and PR strategies in such cases.
Alden highlighted the complexities of using legal tools like injunctions: “Injunctions can be a necessary tool, particularly for privacy matters. But a failed injunction can often lead to more information coming out than initially intended. You need to carefully weigh the risks before proceeding.”
Cannon agreed, adding: “Lawyers should only threaten injunctions when they really mean it, if they want to be taken seriously by the papers and not as the boy who cried wolf.”
7. The Human Element
In closing, Cannon encouraged professionals not to fear journalists, lawyers, or PR teams:
“Often, something can be caused by misunderstanding and just needs to be explained… By picking up the phone, making a friend, and building trust, you can save yourself a lot of time and money.”
In summary, managing reputations in high-profile disputes requires a multi-disciplinary approach. Legal, PR, and investigative professionals must work together to navigate today’s complex media and legal landscape. The key is preparation, collaboration, and a well-executed strategy to protect clients from the multifaceted threats of modern reputation crises.
The piece can now be read in the latest edition of the TL4 Disputes Magazine: https://thoughtleaders4.com/images/uploads/news/Disputes_Magazine_Final_%281%29.pdf?__hstc=251652889.0f1dfce774559fa6cb534df6a7bb7b22.1732202754421.1732644216717.1733134592990.4&__hssc=251652889.3.1733134592990&__hsfp=2085883995v
