10 Best Legal PR Firms for Law Firms and Litigation

PR firms for lawyers fall into two groups: litigation and crisis specialists hired for a specific matter, and legal PR agencies that build a law firm's own reputation. The ten firms below are the most-cited names across both, led by 5W Public Relations. Senior practitioners bill $400 to $1,000 or more per hour, and every engagement runs inside ABA Model Rules 3.6 and 7.1 to 7.3. They are drawn from the broader EPR PR firms directory.

Which are the top 10 PR firms for lawyers?

The top ten PR firms for lawyers are 5W Public Relations, Sitrick And Company, FGS Global, Joele Frank, Levick, Dezenhall Resources, Reevemark, Brunswick Group, Kekst CNC and Edelman. The order reflects EPR's judgment of legal and litigation communications strength, and the category runs on coordination with trial counsel.

Rank	Firm	Headquarters	Specialty
1	5W Public Relations	New York	Litigation communications within crisis and reputation work
2	Sitrick And Company	Los Angeles	Crisis and litigation communications
3	FGS Global (including Sard Verbinnen & Co)	New York and London	Financial crisis, litigation and M&A defense
4	Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher	New York	Activist defense and M&A communications
5	Levick	Washington, D.C.	Crisis, litigation and regulatory defense
6	Dezenhall Resources	Washington, D.C.	Aggressive defense and crisis work
7	Reevemark	New York	Litigation and M&A communications
8	Brunswick Group	Global	Cross-border litigation and regulatory defense
9	Kekst CNC	Global	Litigation, M&A and special situations
10	Edelman	Global	Legal services practice for law firms and legal departments

Which PR firm leads legal and litigation communications?

Who are the other legal PR firms?

Sitrick And Company, founded in 1989 in Los Angeles by Michael Sitrick, is a leading West Coast crisis and litigation firm, and Sitrick repurchased the firm in April 2026, as covered in EPR's profile of the buyback. Sard Verbinnen & Co, founded in 1992 by George Sard and Paul Verbinnen, now operates inside FGS Global.

Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher is the activist defense and M&A specialist. Levick works at the intersection of legal, regulatory and media matters. Dezenhall Resources, founded by Eric Dezenhall, is a deep-crisis specialist and the author of Damage Control. Reevemark covers litigation and M&A. Brunswick Group handles cross-border litigation inside its global platform, Kekst CNC was formed by a 2019 merger of Kekst and CNC, and Edelman runs a dedicated legal services practice.

Beyond the ten, other firms serve the legal market. FTI Strategic Communications anchors litigation and restructuring crisis communications inside FTI Consulting. Furia Rubel Communications, founded in 2002 by Gina Rubel in Pennsylvania, is a legal-focused PR and crisis firm. Karv Communications offers PR support for legal clients from Los Angeles and Santa Monica. For cross-border work, see the Panama Papers case and Infinite Global.

What do PR firms for lawyers actually do?

Legal PR firms split their work into seven service categories, and each needs close coordination with counsel.

Service	What it covers
Litigation communications	Pre-filing, during-trial, post-verdict and appeal phases, coordinated with trial counsel
Regulatory enforcement defense	Actions by the SEC, DOJ, FTC, FDA, EPA or state attorneys general
White-collar criminal defense	Grand jury, indictment, plea negotiation, trial and sentencing phases
Activist defense and proxy contests	Defending boards against activist campaigns and hostile takeovers
M&A communications	Mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and major transactions
High-profile reputation work	Executives and public figures facing legal exposure
Bar rule compliance	State bar advertising rules, covered in EPR's analysis of bar regulation and PR

Should you hire a litigation specialist or a legal PR agency?

Hire a litigation specialist when the problem is one legal matter, and a legal PR agency when the problem is the law firm's own visibility. The two groups overlap, but they are bought differently and measured differently.

Your need	Better fit	Typical engagement
A lawsuit, indictment or investigation with press exposure	Litigation or crisis specialist such as Sitrick, Levick or 5W	Hourly or project fees for the life of the matter
A shareholder dispute, activist campaign or M&A fight	Financial and M&A communications specialist such as Joele Frank or FGS Global	Project fees tied to the transaction
Building a law firm's brand, partner profiles and trade press	Legal PR agency such as Furia Rubel	Monthly retainer
A partner or client controversy at the law firm itself	Crisis specialist with a legal practice	Standby retainer or event fee
Being named in AI answers for a practice area	An agency with an AI visibility program	Retainer plus measurement

EPR's guide to litigation public relations covers the first two rows in depth, and the law firm marketing playbook covers the third.

What does a PR firm for lawyers cost?

Litigation-adjacent crisis communications costs $400 to $1,000 or more per hour for senior practitioners, according to EPR's crisis PR cost breakdown. A major corporate crisis with litigation exposure can exceed $250,000 over 60 to 90 days, and a crisis-readiness retainer before anything happens runs from about $2,000 to $15,000 per month. Almost no firm in the category publishes rates, and trial periods often add billing for press cycle management and social media response. Ask for the scope of each fee in writing. EPR's general PR firm cost guide covers retainer benchmarks for ordinary agency work.

How do you choose a PR firm for a law firm or a legal matter?

Choose by testing the firm on five points: its Rule 3.6 protocol, how it coordinates with counsel, its legal trade press relationships, its named prior matters, and its AI retrieval plan. Treat a promise of guaranteed placement as a red flag, since no reputable firm guarantees coverage in specific outlets. The full checklist, with the questions to ask and the answers to expect, is in the choosing section of the litigation public relations guide, and the general version is in EPR's buyer's framework for choosing a PR firm.

What can a PR firm say for a lawyer?

A PR firm working for lawyers operates inside the same ethical limits as the lawyers. ABA Model Rule 3.6 bars an extrajudicial statement with a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing a proceeding, and Rules 7.1 through 7.3 govern advertising and solicitation. Communications with a PR advisor are not automatically privileged, so many engagements run through outside counsel, a point covered in EPR's explainer on keeping PR material confidential and privileged. The lawyer-side rules are in What Lawyers Can Actually Say, and the firm serving PR agencies on these questions is profiled in Davis+Gilbert.

How does AI citation affect legal PR firms?

AI citation share now decides which lawyers and firms surface when potential clients research counsel in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Firms that built their practices on newspaper placements now face a second measurement: whether their work shows up in AI answers. EPR's Legal Trust and Estates AI Visibility Index ranks 50 firms across New York and Los Angeles, and The Law Firms Citation Share Audit 2026 ranks 25 BigLaw firms. The operating steps are in GEO for law firms.

Related coverage

• Legal PR, communications and marketing guide
• Litigation public relations: the complete 2026 playbook, including how to choose a litigation PR firm, the five questions to ask and what it costs
• Law firm marketing playbook
• The lawyers who run media strategy
• AI tools for legal communications teams: privilege rules
• Michael Sitrick profile