Lawyer PR: The Media Training Element

Media Training for Lawyers to Maximize Press Opportunities

Americans elevate lawyers who are In the News to a special status, an unbeatable differentiator for an attorney in any specialty and an effective additional credential with more marketing value than a JD, LLM, or a dozen scholarly articles written in legal publications. The Elite Lawyer Management PR team captures the media spotlight for you but to maximize the brand-enhancing possibilities, media coaching really makes a difference.

Why do Lawyers Need Media Training?

Most attorneys are great communicators in front of a jury, a group of other lawyers, or when speaking to a board of directors but journalists are a specialized audience. Too many attorneys believe their communication skills are media-ready but they come off looking pompous, uncaring, unprepared, or inept regardless of their actual humility, compassion, preparation, or skills.

We have all seen an attorney who appears uncomfortable and delivers answers that are too complex but we’ve also seen the confident, relaxed, and intelligent advocate with unscripted and authentic responses. The difference? Media training. Delivering great interviews is a trained skill. When your career or a client’s liberty or fortune are at stake you should be ready.

Elite Lawyer Management Media Trainers are all Former Journalists

ELM clients receive legal-message-specific media training by one or more of our expert media trainers. Each of our three specialists has 5+ years’ experience in front of the camera as on-air news talent, in one case with more than a decade as a major market anchor. They train you to resonate with an audience by developing the skills to deliver a lively presentation and a captivating message.

Radio, Television, Print, Online Interviews Are Different Skillsets

Even the most experienced and articulate legal professionals can and should be coached to deliver the right messaging for each of several media formats. Television requires concise messaging to create either a good back-and-forth dialogue with a host within a three minute segment or a concentrated expert response in the often only twenty or thirty seconds allocated to one of several “talking heads” on an important topic.

Media training for radio interviews is different. It includes defining the building blocks of your message so that you can communicate appropriately for a five minute interview or thirty minutes; there is, or should be, a story arc to your message delivery and that’s a trained skill Elite Lawyer Management trainers teach.

Your Image, Presence and Presentation

While lawyers typically believe wearing a good suit is all that’s necessary for their appearance and image, that’s really not enough. You’ll learn the right colors (a white shirt makes many people look pale on camera), the importance of maintaining eye contact (if you, like many of us, look toward the ceiling when contemplating a response to a question, you’ll look insane on-camera), how even small patterns in your suit or shirt become wavy lines on video… You can see the attention required to your physical presence to convey a professional image and not distract from your message.

Message, personal appearance, and delivery (mostly unscripted and seemingly spontaneous) are all critical for television or any media interview. Each is a trainable talent and we make sure ELM attorneys are all media-ready for radio, print, television, and online outlets; each with format-specific training.

Media Trained Attorneys Maximize Every Media Interview’s Value

Attorneys who are constantly in the news are perceived as more valuable experts than their competitors and the opportunity to share a message with millions is priceless in terms of client development. To maximize the client attraction, visibility, and credibility benefits of media attention, Elite Lawyer Management clients are media trained and media ready to deliver focused messages.

Our lawyers connect with, inform, and entertain media audiences which results in return invitations and more appearances. Experienced, media trained attorneys are a scarce and valuable resource for journalists and media outlets. ELM clients win air time and column inches because they deliver engaging content for writers, reporters, and producers and their audiences.

If you want to leap past the stereotype, develop a polished-expert media presence, and enjoy the career and legal services marketing benefits to your practice, we hope to hear from you to see if your requirements and our services are a good fit.

Our media trainers work by Skype (or other online service), or in-person at your office, or at ours. If you want to learn more about Elite Lawyer Management media training and interview coaching.

Call us at 888.787.2246 or connect with us by email: [hidden email]