June 2026
There was a time when most corporate crises followed a familiar playbook.
That world is gone.
Now a TikTok video accusing you of labor violations can go viral before you’ve gotten out of bed. A drone video of an “incident” with zero context can rack up 2 million views by lunch. An activist influencer can frame a negative narrative before anyone really knows the facts. By dinner, clients, regulators, employees and investors are all asking the same question:
“Why aren’t they saying anything?”
Welcome to the Age of Chaos – a time when facts aren’t required, no one can really comprehend the speed at which things move, and legal and reputational risks are now deeply intertwined.
Research consistently shows misinformation spreads dramatically faster than facts online. In one MIT study, it’s estimated that mis- or disinformation is shared six times more than facts. Why? Because outrage is efficient. Nuance is not.
You’ve seen the headlines and heard the comments:
Sometimes the facts favor the company. Sometimes they don’t.
But once the issue becomes public, legal strategy alone rarely protects stakeholder trust.
That’s not criticism of attorneys. It’s just reality.
Lawyers are trained to minimize liability. Communications professionals are trained to manage perception, trust and public understanding. Increasingly, clients need both disciplines working together… and quickly. Early.
Jackson Spalding recently handled a tragic situation where the collapse of a structure killed several people. Finger pointing began immediately. People wanted answers. And victims’ families wanted someone to blame. The easy way out would have been the simple statement of “Authorities are investigating and we will not comment further.” Fortunately, our client believed in the JS credo of:
SEA: Situation. Empathy. Action.
Not legalese. Not corporate jargon. Human response.
The mistake many organizations make is assuming a carefully worded statement equals effective communication. It usually doesn’t.
Particularly in moments involving injury, public anger or uncertainty, audiences are often evaluating tone before content. They want to know:
That doesn’t mean abandoning legal discipline. It means recognizing that there comes a point when communications — not legal – should have “the pen.”
The best attorneys already understand this intuitively.
One of the most dangerous assumptions companies make is believing media attention reflects actual stakeholder impact.
Sometimes an issue is high visibility but low consequence. Other times a seemingly small incident is quietly destroying employee morale, client confidence or community trust.
We call this distinction “virality versus reality.”
Not every viral moment is a crisis. And not every crisis trends online.
Sophisticated response requires metrics, monitoring and judgment. You and your leadership team cannot make strategic decisions based solely on what’s trending on X at 2 a.m. Jackson Spalding believes in using real data to make informed decisions.
Law firms increasingly find themselves advising clients in matters where courtrooms are only part of the battlefield.
In our experience we’re seeing major issues unfold simultaneously across:
That creates a gap many clients don’t fully recognize until they’re already in trouble.
The strongest attorney-client teams are often the ones who proactively integrate reputation strategy before issues escalate publicly.
Not because communications replaces legal strategy, but because comms can protect the space for legal strategy to work.
At Jackson Spalding, we often partner with law firms during:
Our role is not to “spin” facts or interfere with legal process.
It’s to help clients:
In other words: protect enterprise value while legal protects legal value.
Those are not always the same thing.
Five years ago, many companies didn’t have to think about coordinated misinformation campaigns, AI-generated content, activist amplification or algorithmic outrage cycles. All are just part of our times now.
The organizations that navigate this environment best are not necessarily the ones with the best lawyers or the best communicators. They’re the ones where both teams trust each other enough to work together early.
Because in the Age of Chaos, silence communicates. Delay communicates. Poor empathy communicates.
And unfortunately, so does everybody with a smartphone and a Wi-Fi signal.
If nothing else, that should keep all of us vigilant.
Interested in how Jackson Spalding partners with legal teams? Let’s talk.
