John is joined by Andrew Frank, Founder and President of KARV. They discuss the evolving role of strategic communications in legal and other public relations “crisis” situations. KARV focuses on strategic advisory services, particularly in high-stakes litigation, crisis response, and public policy matters. Roughly half of the firm’s work involves law-related matters, including disputes, investigations, and regulatory issues. KARV operates internationally, with offices in major U.S. cities and partnerships around the globe.
Early engagement is crucial in crisis communication planning. Ideally, engagement begins before a crisis breaks. However, most companies fail to prepare for crises in advance, and communications professionals are typically brought in after legal action has begun. Once engaged, the primary goal of KARV is to support the legal team while minimizing risk. This support includes preparing official statements, crafting consistent messaging, and developing media strategies aligned with legal objectives. The legal and communications teams must collaborate closely to avoid missteps and ensure a unified public-facing narrative.
Clients need to understand the mechanics of media engagement, including the distinctions between on-the-record, off-the-record, and background communications. In crisis situations, clients must also understand the expectations of different media outlets, along with the challenges of working with internal PR teams that may lack experience in crisis or litigation matters. Common mistakes include saying too much, failing to coordinate messaging, and ignoring broader reputational concerns.
Finally, Andrew explains how artificial intelligence is affecting the communications landscape. On the one hand, AI offers useful tools for drafting and analysis. However, AI also raises new challenges by accelerating the spread of misinformation. For example, a news broadcast may be assembled by an AI aggregator and delivered to the audience through an AI generated avatar without any of the content being confirmed as true. Social media posts now appear and receive more than a thousand comments in 15 minutes; that many comments must be generated by AI and both the comments and the original post may be fake. The need to correct such misinformation means that human judgment and experience in managing complex communications environments will remain central, especially in high-stakes legal disputes.