For decades, PR professionals and lawyers have been at odds with each other. One wants to communicate. The other advocates silence. As consumers, shareholders, stakeholders, other audiences and regular plain ol’ folks want and expect greater authenticity and transparency from companies, organizations and agencies, the tension between PR pros and attorneys will become even more strained.

I agree with Pete on all counts. It’s especially frustrating to be second-guessed or discounted by the very person who sought and hired you. Then it’s up to us to decide if the client is worth the hassle and personal frustration a.k.a. is the money worth it?

I agree, being an attorney takes more perseverance in school and a whole lot of book smarts and studying to pass the bar exam.

I also agree the APR exam is not quite on par with a bar exam. But it’s the best we PR folk can do. Our profession is not, and hopefully will not ever be, regulated (back to my previous First Amendment comment).

Doctors and attorneys pass a state administered test that serves to set the bar (pun intended) for the profession.

The APR is a distinction that sets the bar in public relations practice. It says, in essence, “Hey, CEO, you should listen to my communication counsel. I’ve been around the block and am an experienced, professional communicator. Even if you disagree with me and ultimately disregard my counsel, what I have to say is as important as any of your other professional advisors.”

My point is: an attorney’s credentials shouldn’t trump a public relations practitioner’s credentials, especially when it comes to preparing content for a press kit.

How many instances have you heard of where an attorney was told his or her patent application would instead be submitted by the company’s public relations person?

We’re talking about different skill sets.

An attorney, of course, should be involved in a company’s messaging and provide counsel from a legal perspective.

In the same vein, a public relations practitioner ought to be involved (in my book, he or she ought to have the final say) in development of a company’s press kit.

I have some medical problems with my legs (and other stuff). At Mayo the docs told me I had idio pathatc peripheral neuropathy, later at the Cleveland Clinic, I was told I had Crypto pathic peripheral neuropathy. Boy are these guys smart, and how in the world did they make the subtle diagnostic distinction between Crypto and Idiopathic peripheral neuropathy.

The subtle distinction of course is that one is Greek and the other Latin for unexplained leg pain. — And you really think you can do the same thing as the Lawyers. Good lord where are your respect and good sense man.

That said, executives ignore both legal and PR counsel at their own peril.