Reputation
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A top 50 law firm faced an SRA Tribunal for allegations surrounding the conduct of a number of its partners and how the firm had handled its investigations. Byfield was called in when media coverage of the SRA Tribunal was already in the public domain and our brief was to manage and mitigate further reputational damage to the law firm as it prepared for the Tribunal hearing.
Counsel:
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We quickly had to get up to speed with the nature of the SRA investigation, the allegations against the firm and those made against the partners. We then looked at the firm’s defence and created a suite of communication documents and key messages that outlined the firm’s position – to be used for internal, client and external communications at appropriate junctures within the timeline for the Tribunal hearing. So as not to prejudice the outcome of the Tribunal, we adopted a holding strategy in relation to media engagement, using statements only to address factual questions and to correct mis-reporting. We also prepared the client for media attention during the Tribunal hearing. A statement from the client was ready to release to the media as soon as the Tribunal decision was given.
Protecting:
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Our client valued our counsel which was impartial, reassuring and effective in creating more measured reporting of the SRA investigation and subsequent Tribunal decision.