10 ways to guarantee your press release is toast

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By Paul Fletcher
Dolan Media Newswires

Knowing how to work with the media is essential for lawyers and law firms.

You may have news that you want to share — a good result for a client, a merger with another firm or some other accomplishment – and you want to ensure it gets in print and online for others to see.

The press release, providing the basic news for which you seek publicity, is a time-honored form of communication. It provides the news outlet with a quick and direct communication that allows an editor or news director to make a judgment about whether the information is worth writing about or putting on the air.

Unfortunately, there are a host of mistakes that lawyers, law firms and public relations people can make in trying to share their news. We’ve gathered the most egregious examples from the past year and compiled the results into a list of the top 10 ways to guarantee your press release is toast.

Follow the examples below at your own risk.

1. Try to spin a defeat as a big victory

The caption of the press release is designed to grab the attention of the editor or reporter and to identify, quickly, what happened and why he should continue reading.

Here’s the caption from a recent release: “Bentley Dangerfield turns potential loss of millions into substantial gain for client in heated breach of contract arbitration.”

This breathless caption indicates that all would have been lost except for the exploits of the law firm Bentley Dangerfield. (Tip: Don’t make the release all about you.)

But if you read the item, you learn that Bentley’s client, Big Fund, went into arbitration with a former employee who accused it of cheating her out of money (that apparently is the “heated” part). She wanted $11 million and was awarded $1.4 million plus interest.

So, how this is a “substantial gain” for Big Fund? They still are stroking a million-dollar check.

Oh, and the release notes that “Big Fund subsequently requested that the arbitration award be deemed confidential, but that request was denied late last week.”

Why share this additional defeat? In other words, the firm is saying, we really didn’t want this public, but since it is, we’ll send this confusing release to explain it all.

2. Try to become the story

The cardinal rule of press releases is that they contain news. In this next example, the news is “lawyer in Toronto wanted to say something about a case.” The pitch: “Carmichael Law Firm, a Leading Toronto Personal Injury Law Firm, Weighs in on Ruling that Reaffirms Holding a Wireless Device While Driving is Illegal.”

The gist of this one: lawyer says the Ontario appeals court was really smart to reaffirm two prior holdings.

Why would a PR agency send this out? Beats me. Remember that editors and news directors get paid in part to assess the credibility of stories and sources. Releases such as this one damage their view of you and your firm.

And why would a Canadian PR agency send this to an American legal newspaper? Beats me, as well.

3. Party like it’s 1999

I have to admit that some of my favorite releases breathlessly reveal that a “law firm has started a blog.”

It’s 2013. Blogs have been around since the late 1990s. A release from July noted a Milwaukee law firm was “making in-roads to social media with all new blog and video content.”

So is everyone else. We didn’t need a press release.

4. Tell me you’re Bo Derek

Lawyer rating services have proliferated on the Internet. Where once there was Martindale-Hubbell, now there are many. Making the grade with any of them isn’t really news.

One such release we received touted AVVO, an Internet lawyer rating service. From the release: “Reynolds Cox is pleased to announce that criminal defense attorney Bob Stevens has been rated as a Superb 10 out of 10 on AVVO. The rating is calculated using a mathematical model that considers the information shown in a lawyer’s profile, including a lawyer’s years in practice, disciplinary history, professional achievements, and industry recognition … .”

It then went on to quote Stevens as saying he was “humbled to receive the perfect 10 out of 10 rating on AVVO. It is an honor to be in the company of so many great North Carolina criminal defense attorneys.”

This is not notable, or news. Pass.

5. Swear at me

Earlier this year, a PR guy started an email release with the salutation:

“Hell Paul,”

I wondered if this was the start of a complaint. But he sent a follow-up, adding the “o.”

He lost points for condescension, though. His message read: “FYI, in case you hadn’t seen this yet, yesterday, the Michigan State Supreme Court revived a lawsuit Large Law Firm has been litigating against Big Energy Company for well over a decade. The unanimous decision reverses the trial court’s decision and revives Large Law Firm’s tort and fraud claims against Big Energy.”

Two points: They aren’t your firm’s tort and fraud claims. It’s not about you. And, of course, we had seen the case yesterday. It was already on our website. PR Guy left us wondering if he ever had read our paper or visited our site. Not a place you want to be.

6. Be lazy

Be aware that we realize when you CC every other media contact on the same release, and it makes us much less interested in using what you sent. At least try to make it look like this news is special and something of which we should take note.

7. Hit send, then celebrate with a cigarette

PR people can be clever. Sometimes too clever.

Back in the spring, the erotic mommy-porn book, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” was still making the rounds. So we get a release from a book publicist, with the caption: “50 Shades of Litigation: Forbidden affair challenges courtroom ethics.”

The lead paragraph of the release matched the heaving tone of the headline: “In his provocative new thriller ‘Motion Granted,’ award-winning author Alfred E. Neuman tells the dramatic tale of a successful female lawyer who falls in love with a TV evangelist accused of sexually molesting a child. As she struggles to uncover the truth and deal with the cruel effects of unrequited love, the troubled protagonist discovers a dangerous world of dark secrets that will change her life forever.

May I send you a complimentary review copy or set up an interview with Neuman?”

Quite an offer. On which I took a pass.

8. Request a read receipt

Another bad press release hit my inbox, I hit the delete key. Then a little Outlook window popped up that told me the sender had requested a read receipt. In other words, her message sought to police whether I had read her message.

I can understand why she might want to know, but it’s kind of creepy-stalkerish, not to mention a bit annoying. Outlook conveniently allowed me to decline to send the receipt, and then let me tell it not to ask about read receipts again.

9. Know my paper’s name

This is just sloppy and made it clear that the sender was using a template. That’s not a problem — at least the sender was trying to personalize the email message. Points for that. Then points lost for failing to use the template properly:

“Mr. Fletcher,

Stafford & Johnson is pleased to welcome our newest partner, Reggie Bush. Attached below please find our announcement available for release in your publication [PUBLICATION]. Please let me know if you have any questions or need any additional information.”

Sigh.

10. Bite the hand that feeds

Finally, of the many, many releases I have received over the years, the following example stands out as perhaps the most breathtaking example of how not to do it.

PR Woman sent a lengthy release about a lawyer who won a significant award. The release was way too long with too much biography. That’s not uncommon, and not really a problem; those actually can be useful if we need the data.

But a few hours later, the same PR Woman sent a follow-up with this note:

“Lawyers being lawyers, Steve made some changes AFTER he knew I’d be sending this out. Please use this version if you plan to use more than a headshot and title. Thanks.”

Wow. First of all, to diss the client and the legal profession publicly is just poor form.

Second, she seems to acknowledge her first version was junk.

Finally, does she know who Steve’s friends are? Can she be sure that Steve or his firm didn’t get a copy of this message?

For the record, I am friends with Steve, but I didn’t share this with him. I figured PR Woman will make her way to an alternative career on her own.

Paul Fletcher is publisher and editor-in-chief of Virginia Lawyers Weekly, which, like Wisconsin Law Journal, is owned by The Dolan Co.