King & Spalding’s Winning Case for PR:
Legal Experts Score Valuable Coverage

Overview

Headquartered in Atlanta, King & Spalding, LLP represents more than 250 public companies, including over half of the Fortune 100. The firm has more than 800 attorneys in offices in Atlanta, New York, Washington, D.C., Houston and London – and continues to expand.

As Atlanta’s premiere "home town team" for more than a century, King & Spalding felt it was not receiving adequate recognition in the local media and called Cookerly Public Relations to rectify the situation.

Objectives

In addition to building the firm’s brand locally and regionally, Cookerly sought to increase visibility for the firm as a major player on the national legal scene. The agency identified top practice groups, including mergers and acquisitions, business litigation, employee benefits, corporate finance, product liability and more to position the firm’s top attorneys as industry experts/spokespeople for the media.

The agency prepared a public relations campaign focusing on media relations and community outreach designed to increase brand recognition and support recruiting efforts.

Strategy and Tactics

Cookerly developed a top tier media list, including select vertical publications in key industry sectors, and introduced King & Spalding’s practice group leaders as expert resources to weigh-in on current business issues.

Capitalizing on the agency’s relationships and business savvy, Cookerly leveraged spot news, trends and industry issues to identify story fits in multiple practice areas. Services included media training for interviews, proactively cultivating and pitching the media on newsworthy topics and identifying new outlets for optimal coverage.

Cookerly identified organizations for partner affiliations, offering opportunities to network with prospective clients and grow the business.

The agency also worked closely with the firm’s internal communications department and provided strategic counsel on potential issues as needed.

Results

In an approximate 12-month period, Cookerly secured 45 print and broadcast clips for King & Spalding, representing an advertising equivalency of nearly $740,000 and reaching more than 7.8 million readers and viewers. Media placements including quotes from prominent practice group leaders appeared in The New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Atlanta Business Chronicle, The Fulton County Daily Report, Georgia Trend, The Bond Buyer, American Medical News and more.

As a result of Cookerly’s relationship with King & Spalding the agency was able to refer a client that required ongoing legal counsel and the law firm has referred client situations to Cookerly that needed public relations support.