Bell Yard are a legal PR agency and London’s leading litigation PR and legal sector reputation managers.
Advising individuals, firms, chambers, companies large and small, charities and community groups – all of whom have one thing in common: the desire to communicate on matters relating to the law. We are recognised leaders in our field. We are proud to uphold the ethical and educational standards for the PR industry as members of the CIPR and PRCA.
Our core services:
Litigation PR
Might bringing, or facing, a claim in the courts affect your public reputation? What’s the desired impact on the other side? Are you equipped to handle the media spotlight?
Reputation Management
Profile raising:
for clients working in the law
Issues management:
for clients in any industry, on any topic where reputation is at stake
Campaign PR
Bell Yard offers advice on creating and implementing special interest campaigns combining legal, political and media engagement towards a common aim.
Legal PR Agency – Case Study (Litigation PR)
Bell Yard was appointed to represent a senior banker facing an announcement of the FCA’s prosecution against him.
The banker was a former senior manager at Northern Rock who was investigated for alleged misreporting mortgage arrears in the months prior to the bank’s collapse in 2007.
He was fined and barred from working in a regulated financial services firm in one of the first successful prosecutions by the financial regulator of a UK banker for actions during the financial crisis.
Bell Yard worked with the client and his legal team to craft a suitable media statement to respond to the FCA announcement and acted as his press officers on this matter for a period after the FCA notice was published. Unusually for someone of his seniority in his field, the client wanted to publicly express his sadness at his error of judgment and to offer his deep regret. Yet it was important to emphasis to interested journalists that the misreporting of figures was not a direct cause of Northern Rock’s collapse.
Given the inevitable attention this announcement would attract, the client agreed to read his statement to camera personally for broadcasters and print media still photos, partly to face the music in line with his personal conviction, but also in an attempt to head off the inevitable doorstepping that he and his family might otherwise have experienced.
In the event, our client was not heavily demonized on a personal level in media reports. Inevitably, the headlines were not positive, but most commentators also looked at the wider issues and processes amiss at the bank rather than focusing solely on our client’s actions.
Contact Bell Yard Today
Bell Yard Communications Limited
21 Fleet Street
London EC4Y 1AA
+44 (0) 20 7936 2021
Email: info@bell-yard.com
