Corporate counsel are still shy of taking on a gatekeeper or spokesperson role with the media, despite calls to raise their profile. Michelle Madsen reports on the results of the latest The Verdict survey

General counsel often claim to be the gatekeepers of their companies, but just how many of them are happy standing on the front line between their employer and the media?

Not that many, according to this month's The Verdict survey, carried out in association with Davies Arnold Cooper. The survey found widespread reluctance and lack of experience in dealing with the media among senior corporate counsel, with more than 60% of respondents admitting they never dealt directly with the press.

Only a third (37%) of senior in-house lawyers surveyed said they had regular contact with the media, dealing with them on a monthly basis at least. Of those, just 6% said that they spoke to the press more than once a week.

Nestle general counsel Hans-Peter Frick admitted that releasing information to the press presents an essential tension for lawyers, who are used to dotting the 'i's and crossing the 't's on their own documents.

"The problem for lawyers is the fact that they cannot control the final outcome," he said. "Somebody else does the editing."

Coca-Cola European group general counsel Chris Barnard argued that, although in-house lawyers often have a firm grip on what information is released to the press, they are rarely called upon to act as spokespeople if their company has its own public relations (PR) department.

"We are heavily involved with dealing with the press, but from a background position," he said. "Even when comment is needed on litigation cases, we still channel things through PR. I suppose it is a case of professional hesitancy."

Barry Lawson, general counsel at private equity house Bridgepoint Capital, said it is not up to a general counsel to be the brand ambassador for their company: "The advantage of having a communications person is that they are aware of image and perceptions of the business in a way that a lawyer cannot always be."

For the majority of general counsel at publicly-listed companies, spending face-to-face time with the press is something they would rather leave to their communications professionals, even when discussing points of law or regulatory issues that could affect their company. The results of the survey suggest that companies are doing little to encourage their in-house lawyers to step into the limelight.

Eighty-one percent of respondents said they felt no encouragement from their company to take an active role in media relations. Unsurprisingly, given their relative underexposure to the media, more than 40% said that press attention left them feeling 'uncomfortable' or 'very uncomfortable'.

Of those general counsel who have dealings with the press on a regular basis more than half said they felt 'comfortable' with the exposure they had and 20% said they felt 'very comfortable'. In comparison, only 24% of respondents who were not encouraged to be a spokesperson by their company said they were 'comfortable' with working with the press.

Although the overall tone of the response suggests that general counsel prefer to remain in the shadows, one respondent suggested that the in-house community is better at dealing with the media when it does so en masse.

"Corporate counsel have a better focus when they group together," said Susan Smith, general counsel of United Business Media. "For example, the GC100 Group, of which I am a member, is a strong voice in lobbying the Government on key legal issues and legislative changes."

Not surprisingly, those working for media organisations were among the strongest advocates for corporate counsel to adopt a media role.

Financial Times legal head Tim Bratton said the legal and press relations functions of a company are most effective when they work together.

"In-house counsel should engage with their internal PR representative to get messages out to the media and not underestimate the expertise needed to effectively engage with media," said Bratton. "A combined PR/legal approach should be a very effective tool."

Likewise, Reuters general counsel Rosemary Martin was surprised that more general counsel were not actively seeking to engage with the media and argued that lawyers can be the best spokespeople a company can have.

"Lawyers are certainly capable of being media spokespeople," she said. "They tend to be accurate, concise and can tell a story convincingly. They often simply do not want to do it."

A press officer at one corporate counsel body told Legal Week that the ability of individual general counsel to deal with the media varies wildly depending on both the organisation that they work for and their personality.

"There are a number of general counsel out there who have become more than in-house counsel. They are very good business people, and taking a media-facing angle on their position is an integral part of their role as business partners."

Reuters' Martin added: "Lawyers are very nervous of the media; more than they need to be. There are ways of handling the media so it is a pleasurable experience rather than a hideous mistake."