Managing Crisis in Law Firms with Bill Coletti

Bill Coletti is an impressive leader in the space of crisis management, with more than 25 years of global experience managing high-stakes crises for both Fortune 500 companies and winning global political campaigns. You might think that a crisis for a Fortune 500 company differs from a crisis for a solo or small law firm and certainly, there are differences - but a crisis is still a crisis. Bill has a wealth of knowledge in this business area that lawyers need, but don’t always know that they need. In this episode we discuss: Managing your business reputation during times of crisis.  Being a generalist versus a specialist and the importance of networking to know other specialists to delegate to. The definition of a crisis. Owning your brand versus owning your reputation. What mindsets make good leaders in a crisis. Types of risk and the new emerging Social Risk. The importance of a clear chain of command in a crisis situation. How preparation is key to a speedy and effective crisis response. How you need to be always communicating.   Guest Bio:  Bill Coletti is a reputation management, crisis communications and professional development expert. Additionally, he is a keynote speaker, Wall Street Journal Risk and Compliance panelist and bestselling author of Critical Moments, The New Mindset of Reputation Management. He has more than 25 years of global experience managing high-stakes crises, issues management and media relations challenges for both Fortune 500 companies and winning global political campaigns.    Website https://kith.co/   Email Address - [email protected] Phone Number - (512) 934-7719 Facebook url https://www.facebook.com/kithconsult Twitter Handle https://twitter.com/kith_co YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmLAgAF2cjeRDP_hfchWWrg   Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Snippets    00:20:05 Allison (Total 30 Seconds) But I'm getting the sense that there are some keys to success in these circumstances that one could really turn to. What would you recommend?   00:20:11 Bill Coletti So planning and preparation is key. You need to plan and prepare. And the simple tactic I give to big companies, small companies, is as you are and you're the law firms that you work with can do this either for their companies or for themselves, for their clients, is pull out The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, your local paper, whatever. Pull out a major publication and say, what if this had happened to us? How would we respond if this was us?