This week we welcome criminal lawyer Lazar Raynal, a partner at King & Spalding in Chicago. With an extensive criminal law background, Lazar is an expert in matters involving patent infringement, breach of contract, and fraud. He has led numerous internal investigations for clients in response to governmental investigations and civil lawsuits. And today, he’s here to share his tips on dealing with reporters without getting burned.

As we know, in the court of public opinion, lawyers have to deal with the media influence on legal outcomes. That means having a good PR strategy up your sleeve, and the skills to handle reporters.

Lazar recounts his representation of actress and heiress Liesel Pritzker, who filed $6 billion lawsuit against her father and cousins, claiming they had misappropriated money from trusts. The victory of this lawsuit led to the breakup of the family’s Hyatt hotel empire. The media played a big part in this case, and Lazar discusses how to determine whether a reporter is trustworthy and what it means to be a reporter in the modern age.

“What is a reporter today? Is it a person who's got a podcast? Is it a person who's got a blog? In the tech space, which I work a lot in, there are all kinds of industry publications, and so it's not really clear who you can trust or not trust, or are they even trained reporters and do they follow those rules?”

Lazar also shares the lessons he’s learned from Mike Sitrick, who worked with him on the Pritzker case early in his career: how the absence of a statement can be perceived as an indictment, and give clients a reality check when they have unrealistic expectations about the court of law and court of public opinion.  

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This episode of The Intersection: Where the Court of Public Opinion and the Court of Law Collide is about: PR strategies in litigation, the Liesel Pritzker lawsuit, media influence on legal outcomes, legal media strategies, and reporters.

About Sitrick and Company

Sitrick and Company is a Los Angeles-based public relations firm founded by Michael Sitrick specializing in corporate, financial, and crisis communications. Known for its expertise in high-stakes situations, the firm has handled reputation management, litigation support, and media strategy for high-profile clients. It operates offices in New York City and Washington, DC, and is recognized as a leader in strategic communications and crisis management.

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