New communications offering for communications related to business lawsuits

December 2007 – Pleon, Europe's leading communications consultancy for PR and public affairs, will expand its consultancy portfolio at the turn of the year with a new discipline: litigation communications.

"In recent years, we have been entrusted with more and more communications briefs involving legal disputes – for example, commercial damages claims, or intellectual property disputes," explains Frank Behrendt (44), CEO Pleon Germany. "For that reason, we now want to bundle and systematically expand our expertise."

The Head of the new Practice will be Peter Strieder (former Senator in Berlin, aged 55), now Senior Partner at Pleon's Berlin office. "As a lawyer and former judge, he can speak on equal terms with all those involved," says Behrendt. At Pleon, Strieder already has a team of more than ten consultants with legal training at his side. "Communications involving legal disputes is becoming increasingly important as a strategic task, because publicity can mean building up pressure or even erecting protective barriers," says Strieder. "The legal experts on our team work in an integrated way with our experienced crisis communications consultants."

Their task is not to provide legal advice. Rather, the litigation consultants translate complex legal issues for various target groups and consult the clients strategically on all communications matters related to upcoming or ongoing legal disputes.

From US class actions, through complex questions of international law such as expropriation, to brand protection cases, the Pleon consultants have a wide range of prior experience. "We have helped both on the passive side, shielding companies and their management from attack, and actively by helping them enforce their claims," explains Strieder. Pleon will also continue its successful collaboration with renowned, top international law firms in future.

In August this year, Pleon established a Litigation Practice in Switzerland, headed by Ulrike Weber. Weber is a qualified lawyer with many years of experience in communications management at DaimlerChrysler. Her team will, together with Pleon's team in Austria, work closely with Strieder's.


You can find a recent photo of Peter Strieder on the internet: www.pleon.de/fileadmin/pleon-online.de/peter_strieder.jpg