When lawyers advise their clients on whether to take legal action they should take into consideration a possible media backlash.
They should think about how their actions will be portrayed by the press and whether their clients might therefore suffer reputational damage that could outweigh the benefits of fighting a case, argues barrister and lecturer Phillip Morgan in the New Law Journal.
Morgan illustrates his point by citing a recent case involving the Portsmouth Roman Catholic diocesan trust. It concerned the question of whether a bishop can be vicariously liable for the acts of a priest within the diocese.
Morgan writes that the "technical legal point" was "generally misunderstood in media reports and erroneous reporting was widespread."
While the diocese may not have been wrong in pursuing the legal point as a matter of law "in doing so they exposed themselves, and the wider Roman Catholic church to adverse national publicity".
The resulting cost in terms of reduced donations and influence could be "severe".
He concludes: "Sometimes it will be more commercially prudent to settle a claim brought against a client, even where a strong defence is present, if the damage to goodwill by running the defence and the cost to rectify it outweighs the settlement."
Source: New Law Journal
