By Lorraine Boyd
The Daily Record
July 11, 2005
Mike Paul
If there’s one thing that gives both public relations professionals and corporate attorneys heartburn, it’s an incident that threatens their client’s, and even their own, reputation.
The monthly luncheon of the Public Relations Society of America’s Nebraska Chapter on Tuesday, July 12, will feature a speaker of special interest to attorneys seeking to represent their clients during a crisis.
Speaker Mike Paul, president and senior counselor of MGP & Associates PR, a leading PR and reputation management firm based in New York, with local, national and international clients, has provided commentary/analysis on a number of high-profile cases. His own clients have included Citicorp, Merrill Lynch, United Airlines, Verizon, Time Warner, Pfizer, American Red Cross, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Mark Gastineau, Aretha Franklin and many others.
You might remember seeing him on television where he frequently appears as an "expert witness" on reputation management. He is interviewed weekly regarding cases such as Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, the Catholic Church, Martha Stewart, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, Wendy’s, and steroids in sports among many others, on top news organizations including Fox News Channel, CNN, BBC, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC, CBS, Court TV, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, New York Times, Associated Press and many others. A column in the August 2, 2004 edition of Sports Illustrated proclaimed Paul "Mr. Fixit" for his counsel of pro athletes in crisis. Also in 2004, PRWeek Magazine named him one of the top crisis communications and reputation management counselors in the world.
In Omaha Tuesday
His Omaha speech is entitled "Reputation Management and Crisis PR: Truth or Consequences."
He’ll bring guests up to date on the latest developments in the WorldCom case, Michael Jackson, Wendy’s chili incident and others.
How does what he has to say relate to the legal profession?
"In a crisis, there are two courts – the court of law and the court of public opinion. Do [lawyers] understand that they are equally important? Lawyers are taught to limit communication, while public relations professionals know the only way to help their clients is to communicate. Are lawyers and PR professionals like oil and water then?
"No. They need to learn how both worlds can work together. They not only can come together, they absolutely need to come together, for the sake of the client," he told The Daily Record in a phone interview.
While for a lawyer a high profile client is a 24/7 ordeal for weeks and months during the trial, for as much as two years prior to that trial, the case has appeared in the media and has already been tried in the court of public opinion. The public relations work of keeping the client’s reputation intact must be started well before the trial.
Paul said that just as a public relations professional can’t try a case and win their client an acquittal, so a law firm can’t effectively manage a client’s media dealings; they need to get advice from the experts. Especially if those media dealings include thousands of media from around the world, he noted. But even local cases need help with the media.
Getting expert communication advice helps both the client and the attorney, by not taking any unnecessary risks. A slip of the tongue can result in big problems for a client and a case, he noted.
Very high profile cases, such as those of Scott Peterson or O.J. Simpson, require a crisis management PR firm just to handle the phone calls, with phone banks staffed 24 hours a day. The Michael Jackson case, he noted, attracted more media attention than the two aforementioned cases combined.
"But a PR firm’s job is not just to answer phones, but to counsel you. There are many firms that specialize in working with law firms," Paul said. A law firm uses them just as they would a medical expert or an accounting expert, to help them with areas in which they are not experts, like handling the media.
"I plan to talk Tuesday, among other things, about the Michael Jackson case, Wendy’s finger-in-the-chili case, and about the United States’ [global] reputation today. I’ll also talk about WorldCom. I once worked at the old MCI, and I’m one of the few people willing to talk about it."
As a member of the communications advisory committee of NYC2012, the New York City Olympic Bid organization, he received bad news on Wednesday, as New York lost its bid for the Olympics in 2012. But he’s looking ahead to 2016, noting that the reputation of the United States has a lot to do with the Olympic committee’s decision.
In 1998-1999, Paul served in the administration of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as executive vice president of communications, marketing and advertising for NYC Economic Development Corp., helping to retain and attract businesses to New York City.
Paul is a former political columnist and reporter, as well as a former adjunct professor at several universities in New York. He earned a master of public administration degree with a concentration in international management from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He received two distinguished fellowships for study at Columbia: the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Fellowship in International and Public Policy and the Patricia Harris Fellowship in Public Policy. Paul also earned a bachelor of arts degree in political science and public policy from the State University of New York at Cortland.
Visit http://www.mgppr.com/mikepaul.html for more information on Paul and his company.
Members of the Omaha Bar Association are invited to attend. The luncheon is Tuesday, July 12, with networking and the buffet line beginning at 11:30 a.m., at Westside Community Center, 3534 S. 108th Street. Lunch is $25 for non-PRSA members. For reservations – due today – call 397-0280, e-mail prsa@cam-omaha.com or visit www.nebraskaprsa.org/register.
