In-House Counsel

Why Corporate Clients Probably Don't Want You To Publicize Your Trial Victories

It does a client only a tiny amount of good to publicize a defense judgment at trial.

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You just won a big defense judgment!  You’re a hero!

The world will learn about this! You’ll add this victory to your firm bio.  Clients will retain you left and right! Surely this victory will jumpstart the rest of your career.

“The American Lawyer” will want to name you the Litigator of the Week. Your firm will be in contention for the Litigation Department of the Year award.

This is great! Let’s publicize the win!

Then you speak to your client. (You do speak to the client, don’t you, before your firm’s publicity machine cranks into action?) The lawsuit was against the client, after all. It’s the client’s case, and the client paid the exorbitant fees your firm charged for the privilege of you trying the case.

The client prefers that you not publicize the victory at trial.

What’s that damnable client thinking?

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It does a client only a tiny amount of good to publicize a defense judgment at trial. Maybe — maybe — some future plaintiff’s lawyer will do some internet research about the client, decide that the client has the gumption to try occasional big cases to judgment, and thus decide not to sue. But that’s a very small, and possibly nonexistent, benefit.

On the other hand, it does a client a fair amount of harm to be associated with litigation. If your client is a corporate defendant, then the fact that a case was filed probably reflects poorly on the client. Someone thought that the client’s drug was designed improperly and hurt someone; that the construction work was shoddy, causing the roof to leak; that the physician’s services were not up to snuff, causing someone to suffer injury. By definition, your client was a defendant; is it really good for a corporate defendant’s name to be associated with litigation (successful or no)?

So think twice before instinctively sending press releases out to the world and shouting about your victory from the mountaintops.

It’s true that you won. It’s true that the defense judgment is a feather in your cap. It’s true that you want to brag about the victory to generate fame and possible fortune.

But you’re not the only one with skin in this game.

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Consider trial victories from the corporate defendant’s perspective, and you may understand why publicizing your victory is not necessarily in your client’s best interest.

Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.

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