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.
