Law Practice Marketing and Litigation Public Relations
Whether you need to attract new business to your law firm or you have a lawsuit that needs to be promoted to the media, Westwind Communications can help you reach your goals.
“Making it Rain” new business begins by creating a positive image of your firm in the minds of potential clients and fellow attorneys. We’ll analyze your needs, benchmark the competition and will determine whether you need new collateral material such as a brochure or a web site, new TV ads, a direct mail campaign, messages on hold or a PR campaign targeting the media.
Every law firm is unique. Every situation is special; that’s why we’ll develop a distinctive law practice marketing plan just for you and your firm.
Litigation Public Relations
Winning or losing in the court of public opinion can be just as important as what happens in the courtroom. Westwind Communications helps clients and their lawyers develop communications strategies that support and enhance their legal strategies. Westwind Communications will work with the media to help them understand the case and assist them in the gathering of information, quotes, photos, videos, etc. so that the final published story reflects the position of the client.
Westwind Communications Litigation Public Relations include:
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Westwind Shined a White-Hot-Light on Our Law Suit and Put Everyone on Notice!
“I turned to Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications after an exasperating eight-year battle with insurance companies and the New York legal system. The issue was that a neighbor’s underground oil tank leaked over time and the oil migrated under my house making it an unbearable situation.
After racking up over $1.3 in legal and expert fees to no avail, I hired Scott Lorenz to turn up the heat on the opposing parties by generating news coverage. I thought that if the legal system won’t get this resolved maybe the news media can! Scott got two major New York TV stations, CBS and ABC to come out to my home and interview me and my environmental expert/consultant.
An astonished media could not believe this was happening. Their stories put a white-hot-light on the court case and put everyone on notice that major New York media was now watching this case. It gave me more resolve to keep fighting for our rights based on a NY State oil spill law, in a signed and so ordered settlement we have that is still being ignored by the insurance companies!
The bottom line: Scott Lorenz was worth every penny then some!”
CBS-TV-NYC Troubling-Backyard-Oil-Spill-Turns-Long-Island-Couples-Lives-Upside-Down/
ABC-TV-NYC Couple Fights to Get Home Fixed After Oil Leaks from Neighbor’s Fuel Tank
Lynn Eskenazi
Lido Beach, New York
“As the premier provider of court reporting and litigation support solutions in the USA, we utilized Westwind Communications in a very complicated patent lawsuit involving our firm where they helped explain the merits of the lawsuit in a way that all parties in the industry could understand, from court reporters and lawyers to the media. Westwind Communications was able to cut through the clutter and make sense of it all.”
Jeanne Foulon
Chief Marketing Officer
Hobart West Group
Esquire Deposition
http://www.esquiredeposition.com
“Since 2002 Scott Lorenz has handled the marketing and public relations for our law firm. He has been the driving force in enhancing our image and increasing public perception. He obtained dozens of print and electronic news stories including 50 plus news-feature segments on FOX-TV, dramatically improved our web presence and its importance in attracting new clients. He created and managed the pay per click advertising program which has been a significant development in the marketing of any practice. I unequivocally endorse Scott and the good services of Westwind Communications”
Terry L. Cochran
CochranLaw
Click for Press Clips
Listen to Terry L. Cochran comments about Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications
Westwind Communication’s areas of expertise:
- Civil and criminal
- Class Action Lawsuits
- Bankruptcy
- Divorce
- Federal Investigations
- Labor and Employment Issues
- Whistleblower cases
- Intellectual Property Battles
- Shareholder Lawsuits
“Injustice can hide away in the maze of court procedure;
it can’t hide from the white-hot spotlight of truth.”
Scott Lorenz
The Situation:
A couple in Long Island, New York spent nine years and more than $1.3 Million in legal and expert fees trying to negotiate a reasonable insurance settlement to clean up oil that had spilled from a neighbor’s tank and migrated to the basement of their home. After nine years of getting nowhere with the New York legal system they turned to Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications to do what the courts could not do:
Deliver JUSTICE!
The Action Plan:
Westwind Communications “shined a white hot light” on the case, sending out the facts to all media outlets. This resulted in interviews and stories on New York CBS and ABC television affiliates, Newsday and a dozen media outlets which were magnified on Facebook and Twitter. These stories clearly publicized the nature of the problem, and put the insurance company and those involved with the case on-notice that the public was watching.
The Bottom Line:
The powerful media coverage resulted, at long last, in a court-ordered settlement which has now been paid. Publicity delivered what the legal system could not: JUSTICE and CASH!
The Situation:
A broken water pipe in the basement of the Oakland County, MI home of Mary and Carl Becker led to an infestation with dreaded black mold. The insurance company did not fulfill their obligation to the Beckers under the terms of their policy, leaving them living in apartments away from their home for 2 1/2 years.
The Action Plan:
Westwind Communications brought the Beckers’ situation to the attention of the media.
The Bottom Line:
The day after WDIV TV ran a story on the Beckers and their plight, a representative from the insurance company phoned and offered to settle for full damages.
The Situation:
The Farmington Hills, Michigan home of Mark and Jean Gordanier was on fire, so they called the fire department. The fire department’s maps were so outdated, and the firefighters were so poorly trained that they could not find the address, and the couple’s home burned to the ground before they arrived.
The Action Plan:
Westwind Communications clearly publicized the facts of the case, including the fact that Domino’s Pizza could find their house with no problem but the fire department could not. The resulting placements included an Associated Press story, a live 3 minute interview on the local ABC Affiliate, stories on other TV outlets, interviews on major Detroit radio stations, and stories in the Oakland Press and the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers and Detroit Free Press.
The Bottom Line:
The couple won their lawsuit and were compensated for damages to their home. Perhaps even more importantly, the procedures and training of the fire department were upgraded, potentially saving lives and property for years to come.
Update:
Several years after the resolution of this case, Westwind received a call from Mr. Gordanier crediting them with the resolution of a completely unrelated conflict. Mr. Gordanier was faced with an individual who intended to default on a $35,000 debt to him. Mr. Gordanier advised this individual to do a quick Web search on Scott Lorenz and Mark Gordanier. The individual,having seen the scope of the publicity generated by Westwind on behalf of the Gordaniers, immediately paid the $35,000 debt.
The Situation:
A major insurance company retained Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications as an expert in a civil action the firm was defending in Virginia. The case involved claims of lost profit. A car accident involving the plaintiff and his subsequent injuries allegedly caused him to miss media appointments and thereby ‘lost profit.’
The Action Plan
The insurance company attorney ask Mr. Lorenz to use his experience in publishing, promotion and marketing in identifying the weaknesses to this claim.
The Bottom Line:
The case NEVER went to Trial. The plaintiff dropped the case once the deposition outlining the flaws in the case were presented by the attorney representing the insurance company. “Scott Lorenz was very thorough in his analysis of the issues and timely in review of materials related to the litigation. I highly recommend him as an expert in his field.”
Melisa Katz, Attorney.
The Situation:
Glass Choice, an association of auto glass companies, were suing AAA of Michigan, the state’s largest auto insurer, over an unsavory practice of “steering” claim work to specific auto glass companies favored by the insurance company.
The Action Plan:
Westwind mounted a campaign to make the public aware of “steering” and its ramifications for consumers. The campaign resulted in media placements in publications such as the Detroit News, the Jackson Citizen Patriot, the Grosse Pointe News, as well as an undercover investigation by the NBC affiliate in Detroit,
WDIV-TV-4.
The Bottom Line:
The lawsuit was successful, and the practice of steering by insurance companies has been significantly reduced in the state of Michigan.
The Situation:
Mr. D. Harris was receiving a barrage of automatically dialed robo-calls to his cell phone, attempting to collect a debt – a debt he did not owe, to a bank with which he had never had any business dealings. Even after he informed the bank of their error, they continued to call him, so he sued.
The Action Plan:
The law firm for Mr. Harris retained Westwind to publicize the case and to attract others who may have had the same type of phone harassment from collection agencies. Westwind created press releases about the case including a call-by-call summary with dates so the media could see how harassing it would be to receive 60 plus phone calls. Westwind placed the story with two TV stations in Southeast Michigan and Lawyers Weekly ran a front page story about the law firm and its work.
The Bottom Line:
Mr. Harris was awarded $62,500 in damages – and the bank (we hope) lost his phone number.
The Situation:
The principals of Cochran, Kroll & Associates wanted to promote their practice with the media to both consumers and to referring attorneys by promoting their settlements and verdicts. They further desired a marketing campaign to compete in the marketplace with firms with much larger promotion budgets.
The Action Plan:
Westwind Communications publicized the facts of more than 100 settlements and verdicts placing stories in every available local print and broadcast media outlet including: FOX News, WDIV-TV, ABC News, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, The Oakland Press, NPR, Flint Journal, Michigan LIVE, the Associated Press and hundreds of media outlets across Michigan and the U.S.A.
Westwind obtained dozens of print and electronic news stories including 50 plus news-feature segments on FOX-TV. Scott Lorenz created and managed the pay-per-click advertising program which has been a significant development in the marketing of the practice along with the development of a cutting edge website.
Since being retained in 2001 to this date, Cochran, Kroll & Associates has received exposure in the “court of public opinion” for dozens and dozens of cases. The firm is often the ‘go-to’ legal authority with the media and is consulted on a regular basis about local and national cases of interest.
The Bottom Line:
Cochran, Kroll & Associates are the beneficiaries of a media and marketing campaign which has expanded their firm and improved the bottom line.
The Situation:
Esquire Deposition Services, LLC, a national court reporting agency, was accused, along with other court reporting services, of infringing patents owned by Endgate on features of their real-time court reporting software.
The Action Plan:
When Esquire countered by filing a lawsuit asking that the patents be declared invalid, Westwind Communications issued a press release the day the motion was filed. Articles were prepared to target court reporters, attorneys, and software companies, and complicated legal issues were distilled so that they could be clearly understood by reporters, editors, assigning editors and customers.
The Bottom Line:
Westwind placed the story in numerous legal publications nationwide. The legal media was able to report on the case and utilized much of our material which told the story clearly and concisely and would not have been possible reading the complicated lawsuit itself. When Esquire prevailed the firm’s reputation was still intact as they communicated to their customers and court reporters during the entire process.
The Situation:
The father of three children was the target of false allegations by his spouse during a contentious divorce. She accused him of physically abusing their two sons and sexually abusing their daughter. The issue was a classic example of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) and was the focus of a trial in County Family Court. This pattern of false charges escalated until he was denied contact with his children and was even faced with charges of second degree criminal sexual conduct.
The Action Plan:
Westwind Communications created a media communications strategy that raised legitimate concerns about the methods employed by the agency used to question the children, as well as the impartiality of the prosecuting attorney in cases of this sort.
The Bottom Line:
The father was ultimately interviewed by a major TV outlet. The story helped bring to light serious inequities in the court system. Ultimately the father’s name was cleared and his reputation restored.
The Situation:
The City of Plymouth, Michigan was owed back taxes by Bathey Manufacturing which were not paid for more than 20 years. The total outstanding bill was more than $2,000,000. All types of legal maneuvers were executed by the owners of the property too numerous to list, but their ‘shell game’ worked for 20 years.
Action Plan:
As a lifetime resident of the city, Scott Lorenz felt it was his civic duty to bring this case to the attention of the public through the media. His firm obtained the law suit and background material from the city about the case and pitched it to the Investigation Team at FOX-2 Detroit.
After two months of investigation FOX produced a scathing four-minute piece about this case and the total miscarriage of justice that allowed Bathey to avoid paying taxes. The media coverage was so detrimental that there was no chance the judge would allow the owner another chance to delay and avoid paying outstanding debt.
The Bottom Line:
The court ordered the deadbeat to pay the $2,000,000 back taxes. Payment finally came in the form of the property which was forfeited. The City of Plymouth sold the property for $2.5 million with the proceeds benefiting the local schools, county, city and State of Michigan.