Monday, July 9, 2012

No One Wants to Meet a “Risk Manager”: Define the Language, Control the Debate

We recently met a defense attorney who chatted with us about a potential client meeting the following week on a “whistleblower” case.  Our free, unsolicited advice to pass on to that potential client?  Stop calling it a whistleblower case – a whistleblower is someone who jurors want to protect, someone who comes into the case with a distinct credibility advantage.  Instead, we suggested, describe it as a lawsuit filed by a “disgruntled employee.”

Along the same lines, no hospital patient or visitor wants to meet a “risk manager.”  Think about it – the title combined with the timing (typically right after a negative event) might as well be “the person who tries to keep me from filing a lawsuit.”  A designation that would likely create much more positive associations would be “patient advocate.” 

Defining the language allows you to control the debate.  Instead of allowing opposing counsel to control the conversation with their biased vocabulary, set your own terms with defense-oriented language that tells your story.

And it’s not just us who say so.  In a survey conducted last week by our sister company, Surveys on the Go, two-thirds of participants across the country agreed they view a “whistleblower” positively.  Nearly as many respondents agreed the phrase “risk manager” carries negative connotations.

Next time you’re thinking about how to tell your story in court, as well as the words opposing counsel will use to tell their story, consider the power of language.  You can even use language to turn a weakness into a strength.  For example, with an inexperienced nurse or doctor that the plaintiff lawyer will describe as a “rookie,” go on the offensive and humanize him or her for the jury as “fresh,” “energetic” and “current on all of the newest medical advances.”

If you’d like our input on how to control the language – and the debate – for one of your pending cases, call us at 714.754.1010 or email Senior Vice President Claire Luna at cluna@juryimpact.net.