Public relations professionals versus legal professionals

I have a client, a start-up company, who seems much more enamored with legal counsel than public relations counsel.

I’ve experienced this type of opposition before — I’ve worked for Merrill Lynch in New York City, and have been a public relations counselor to Sprint Wireless in Las Vegas (just a couple examples that come to mind).

Why is it that passing the bar exam carries more weight than a public relations professional being Accredited by the Universal Accreditation Board (the public relations industry’s nearest equivalent to a state bar; see praccreditation.org)?

I was recently told by a representative of my client that all the biographies of company executives would come from legal counsel. Never mind the central purpose of a public relations practitioner: to help prepare strategies, messages and tactics for telling a company’s story, primarily to the media.

My humble opinion is that business communicators who are accredited are on a level playing field with state certified attorneys and doctors.

Most professional communication organizations have their own type of accreditation program. There’s the ABC for IABC and the APR for PRSA.

The challenge PR professionals have is that thanks to the First Amendment, anyone can lay claim to practicing public relations. We’ve all seen less than perfect examples, spin doctors and just plain liars who say whatever they’re paid most to say.

Integrity is as important in the practice of public relations as it is in medicine or law. And we can find examples, good and bad, in all industries.

Business communicators need to do a better job of communicating what it is that makes their knowledge, skills, abilities and experience part of a much needed professional service industry.

Other working professionals ought to recognize the value of accreditation programs and continuing education that sets the professional communicator apart from his or her counterparts.

In my view, management shouldn’t take sides with either legal or public relations counsel, but all should work together as a team for the common good. Without trained, skilled professionals offering opinions on all sides of an issue, how could any company expect to truly make an informed decision?