Many years ago, I received the sort of phone call that any public relations adviser dreads – a solicitor client had been accused of assaulting a woman at his Belgravia offices and the press were all over the story.

Allen Chubb, then senior partner at a firm called Child & Child, had apparently rugby-tackled Laura Harold, the wife of a wealthy property developer, following a dispute in which he refused to hand over the deeds of her home before an outstanding bill was settled. Chubb was ultimately convicted of falsely imprisoning and causing actual bodily harm to Harold and faced a three-month suspension by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The tale, unsurprisingly, resulted in reams of salacious media coverage – and that was in 1996.

Today, the press interest in the legal profession – and particularly any perceived wrongdoing by its senior protagonists – is at an all-time high, as evidenced by the extraordinary volume of column inches dedicated to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and its associates following the sad death of newly-qualified intellectual property lawyer Matthew Courtney at the Tate Modern last month. That case, like the Child & Child incident, demonstrates the inherent need for law firms to think ahead and be ready to deal with the media properly in any event.

Another example of so-called 'crisis management PR' was work I did in the 1990s for Weil Gotshal & Manges, which was faced with the departure of Maurice Allen and a large group of partners from its London arm and needed help dealing with both internal and external communications.

The lesson to be learnt in all of these instances is to be sure of the facts at the outset. While that may sound odd, having different partners expressing different views of what is going on is unhelpful, both internally and externally.

The real position must be established in terms of the story and the firm's response. A steering committee should be appointed to deal with any media attention, ensuring that the firm takes a proactive stance even in difficult circumstances. While the instinct may be to run for cover in the face of the gathering media storm, it must not be ignored that there will always be someone – often inside the firm – willing to air their views on the issue.

Furthermore, journalists are well-versed in picking up the phone and finding out what is really happening, on an off-the-record basis.

It is vital, therefore, to speak as a team and ensure the right message is presented, loud and clear. While New Labour has come in for considerable criticism of late, few can fault the way it dealt with press attention in the early days, when MPs were regularly bleeped or paged with precise instructions as to what they could say, when and to whom, in the face of either good or bad news.

As part of any damage limitation exercise, it is vital that staff are fully briefed on what is going on and are told as much as is reasonably possible. You do not need to invite the opinions of your junior employees, but you should keep them informed of the situation, safe in the knowledge that they will probably express a view regardless.

Another – arguably the most important – constituency to consider is the client. Some firms strongly feel it is none of their clients' business as to how they conduct themselves. However, when a potentially negative story has made it into the national newspapers, this position seems more difficult to sustain.

For instance, consider the tomato ketchup-related incident last year at Baker & McKenzie, when a senior associate famously quarrelled with a secretary over a £4 dry cleaning bill. An email outlining the dispute quickly did the rounds on the internet and made headlines all over the world, showing just how far these stories can travel and what a wide audience they can reach.

Freshfields has handled itself impeccably under the fierce scrutiny resulting from Courtney's death. The first thing to do in a time of real crisis, where human life or a serious tragedy is involved, is to respond in a humane and compassionate manner and to express sorrow to the family involved. In this case, that is really all the firm should be doing.

The firm will be under a barrage of pressure from media outlets asking questions and it would be inappropriate to say anything further. There will inevitably be an inquest into the death and until that process concludes, none of us will really know what happened or why.

If it is true, as some elements of the press have suggested, that Courtney had complained to the firm about his hours in the run-up to his death, associates at the firm will be feeling both concerned and taken for granted. In the long term, it is important, from an internal communications standpoint, that Freshfields is seen to review its systems and to investigate whether there was anything that it did wrong or should do differently in future. It is very difficult for lawyers to conclude that they are working their assistants too hard, but to illustrate how seriously the firm takes the issues involved, it should be seen to be willing to change.

Faced with journalists' questions, there may be a temptation to push other associates forward, but any comment from lawyers at the firm insisting they do not work ludicrous hours will be simply come across with an air of 'you would say that' and is unlikely to assuage the critics.

Courtney was clearly a popular colleague and Freshfields might want to consider setting up a fundraising effort in the same way that Linklaters did in the aftermath of the murder of lawyer Tom ap Rhys Pryce, when a charity was established in his name with the family's involvement. A lot of money has since been raised, and while the two situations are not comparable, there are still lessons to be learnt.

We live in an environment where lawyers' salaries are regularly covered in the press and revelations of million-pound pay packets justify scrutiny of the profession's wider contribution to society.

In every case there are peculiarities, but a few truths remain applicable:

- do not panic or appear to panic;

- be united in your responses; and

- remember to keep all constituencies informed.

Running for cover in the face of calls from the media can seem a very tempting option but, in the long term, will rarely prove to be the best strategy.