Defamation Attorney vs. Reputation Agency: Which One Should You Choose?
With the rise of digital databases, anyone, including your future employers, business partners, or customers, can learn everything and anything about you.
So, reputation management becomes of utmost importance. According to Deloitte research, 87% of executives rate reputation risk as “more important” or “much more important” than other strategic risks. It doesn’t come as a surprise because the risk of improper reputation management can evolve into a devastating strategic crisis.
Reputation isn’t only about your direct communication channels like social media. You should also take into account what others say about you on other platforms. This ensures that people’s perception of you meets your expectations. If, however, you find false information that is damaging to your online image, it’s time to take action.
The usual choice is between defamation of character attorney and a reputation agency. While both can help to deal with a defamation case, there are significant differences between an attorney and a reputation expert that we will elaborate on in this article.
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What Does a Defamation of Character Lawyer Offer?
A defamation of character lawyer is a legal expert with deep expertise in defamation (both libel and slander). Their job is to prove to the court that false statements have harmed your reputation. The specialist assists you throughout the whole legal process, from filing the complaint in court and gathering evidence to presenting you during the trial.
Time
If you decide to go to court to restore your reputation, be prepared to meet your defamation lawsuit lawyer for several months regularly. In the worst scenario, it may even take years. Unfortunately, you can’t expect quick results because legal trials are likely to last long. If you face several rounds (which is common), you will have to wait weeks or months for another session.
Money
You should never assume you’ll get affordable rates if you work with internet defamation lawyers. With hourly rates, you could be facing a minimum of $10,000-$15,000, or you will have to cover a contingency fee. The contingency fee is a certain percentage (25%-40%) from your defamation settlement that you’ll have to pay to a defamation attorney.
Effort
While you don’t need to study the law, you still have to participate in the process. Your job is not just about providing evidence and other case-related details. Be ready to attend regular meetings with your attorney and visit every legal session.
Risks
Unfortunately, dealing with an online defamation lawyer isn’t only expensive and time-consuming, but it also doesn’t guarantee that the situation won’t get worse. The court and attorneys work case by case, meaning that every new piece of content or link is a new case.
Suppose a court order to remove the content, but more details come up, and the site rectifies the article. The court order doesn’t work here, and you have to start a new legal trial, which means more money and time spent.
What Does Reputation America Offer?
While a defamation attorney helps to solve the problem through court, a reputation agency offers another solution – removing information. Reputation America has 10+ years of hands-on experience in deleting harmful content through negotiations. Our team of experts looks for contact information of authors, site admins, or hosting providers to negotiate with them about data removal. Based on our statistics, more than 80% of cases can be successfully resolved this way.
If, however, removal isn’t a viable solution, we offer alternatives:
- Deindexing – removing the link to the source with the harmful content from search results.
- Rectification – updating the information to tell the world the truth.
- Right of reply – giving the injured party a chance to share the truth or their opinion with the audience publicly.
Time
The removal process takes approximately 1 month. Unfortunately, authors or editors usually don’t reply promptly, which is why the negotiation process is long. Sometimes, it can take more time if there is no reply – in this case, we need to contact other parties involved.
Money
When you are working with an attorney, you are charged regardless of the outcome. With us, you only pay for the results. In other words, we don’t charge you until we achieve the desired outcome.
Effort
Our team carries out the majority of work. We carry out a full-on investigation to find the sources with harmful information, find necessary contact details, and negotiate. The client is only involved at the initial stages when we build a defense strategy and collect evidence. We won’t ask you to help with the tactics – case details and certain documents are the only things we may ask for.
Risks
Judging from our experience, the successful removal of information poses no further reputational risks because we reach solutions that benefit both parties. You won’t face any negative publicity or have any media relentlessly discussing your case.
What is more, you can forget about the precedent once and for all because we offer a lifetime guarantee. It means that if the deleted content reappears ever again, we will remove it for free.
Libel Attorney or Reputation America? Make the Right Choice
Dealing with harmful information is a complicated and sensitive task – this is when you can’t afford to make a mistake. For instance, a dentist from Melbourne claimed to be defamed in online reviews, which cost him a significant amount of money. Since the reviewer’s identity was concealed with the nickname, the dentist decided to oblige Google to unmast the disgruntled customer for him to launch legal actions. While this may be successful, the victim still has to devote a lot of money to cover the costs of several legal activities.
While going to court can be reasonable in some cases, it’s not a one-stop solution for everything. Negotiation is a far more effective approach to reputational management, even if the source is reluctant to cooperate. Our experts proved this by removing an article, together with the rest of client-generated content, from a complaint website that claimed never to delete any information. It took us a bit more than two months to build a rapport, negotiate the removal and the appropriate price.
Finally, to help you make a better choice between a defamation of character lawyer and a reputation agency, we have compiled a comparison table:
Don’t choose the most popular path without researching it first. Contact us to know if there are any other risk-free solutions to delete harmful content without adding any negativity and stress!
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