President and CEO of The PR Consulting Group to speak April 6 on litigation PR and crisis communications as part of IJPM lecture series

President and CEO of The PR Consulting Group to speak April 6 on litigation PR and crisis communications as part of IJPM lecture seriesMarch 23, 2009Jaime Winne Alvarez jlwinne@syr.edu

On Monday, April 6, James F. Haggerty will present “Litigation PR and Crisis Communications” as part of the spring “Law, Politics and the Media” lecture series presented by the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics and the Media (IJPM). His lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 3:50-5:10 p.m. in Room 204 at the Syracuse University College of Law. Parking is available in SU pay lots.

Haggerty, president and CEO of The PR Consulting Group, is an attorney with more than 20 years of experience in marketing, public relations and public affairs. Among the nation’s best-known experts in litigation communications, he has also earned a national reputation in environmental issues, professional services marketing, public affairs and crisis management.

In addition to advising legal, corporate and nonprofit clients on marketing and communications matters, Haggerty has been involved in numerous high-profile legal disputes in recent years, including the largest lawsuit ever filed against the United States government (Cobell v. Norton Indian Trust class action), the largest employment class action in history (Home Depot case), the largest single-family Holocaust restitution claim in history (Wertheim Department Store case) and the largest child custody and support case in history (Duff v. Perelman). He has also led the communications effort in the Jonathan Pollard spy case and the historic Screen Actors Guild labor dispute against the commercial advertising industry.

Haggerty is the author of “In the Court of Public Opinion: Winning Your Case with Public Relations” (John Wiley & Sons, 2003), a groundbreaking look at the use of communications and public opinion strategies during lawsuits. One of the top-selling legal hard cover books of 2003, the Financial Times called it “the perfect handbook for this age.”

Haggerty holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and English literature and rhetoric from the State University of New York at Binghamton, studied law at Fordham University and holds a juris doctor from Stetson University. He is admitted to practice in New York and Florida, and is a member of the New York City and New York State bar associations and the Counselors Academy of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). A frequent writer and lecturer on communications issues, his articles and other writing have appeared in USA Today, the New York Times, National Law Journal, New York Law Journal, Law Practice Management and PR Week.

The American judicial system today operates in a complex environment of legal principle, political pressure and media coverage. The goal of the “Law, Politics and the Media” lecture series is to provide an introduction to the court system and its environment as a single, integrated subject of study. Throughout the spring semester, sitting judges, practicing lawyers and working journalists will be featured speakers. The lecture series is part of an interdisciplinary course on law, politics and the media that is cross-listed between the College of Law, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. The course is taught by SU professors Keith Bybee (IJPM director), Lisa Dolak (IJPM associate director) and Mark Obbie (IJPM associate director), and funded through support from the John Ben Snow Foundation and the Carnegie Corp. of New York.

Launched in September 2006, IJPM is an academic institute devoted to the interdisciplinary study of issues at the intersection of law, politics and the media. A collaborative effort of the College of Law, Maxwell School and Newhouse School, the institute sponsors lectures, conferences and symposia designed to foster discussion and debate among legal scholars, sitting judges and working journalists.

For more information on the “Law, Politics and the Media” lecture series and IJPM, visit http://jpm.syr.edu.