With immigration being a hot topic in the media, be it accurate reporting or the proliferation of misinformation online, asylum and human rights solicitor Elena Tsirlina gives communications consultancy Montfort her ‘winning formula’ in navigating cases with such ferocious public interest.

“In public law and cases where intense media scrutiny is very much at the forefront, you have to completely change the tact” – especially when dealing with political dissidents and black smear campaigns, she reveals.

Shapeshifting immigration law

Elena is a legal authority in national, immigration, human rights and asylum law for Charles Douglas Solicitors in London, tailoring advice to international, specifically Russian, clients in an increasingly ‘voluminous’, complex and fast changing area of law.

High-profile cases, media attention and communications expertise

Elena’s involvement in the high-profile case involving the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko on British soil in 2006, brought the interrogation to her door with journalists calling left, right and centre. As Elena helped grieving wife Marina Litvinenko pursue the truth into the death of her husband, the press turned to her for a piece of the controversial story.

To deal with such media hounding, expert advice on how to handle PR is key. Notwithstanding funding shortages in many public law disputes, she says, “it’s pivotal to have a good communications consultant and strategy right at the very outset''.

Soviet ‘black’ PR campaigns and reputation smear mission

This is especially true when the international media play by historical, merciless rules to ruin client reputations.

“Russia and Ukraine and Kazakhstan engage in what we call black PR campaigns because that is a throwback to the sort of Soviet times where this was quite common – gathering compromising information on those that you are trying to persecute, essentially making them more vulnerable'', she explains.

But thankfully PR professionals with the know-how in media management can really help to steer the press and mitigate damaging material, Elena affirms.

Call for the media to take responsibility – educate, not misinform

Fake news, or lies, are powerful when propelled by the media. They have already had real, influential and negative consequences on a global scale as seen in Trump’s election and the Brexit vote which was ‘largely influenced by anti-immigration propaganda’.

In a poignant message, Elena calls for the media to take a hard look in the mirror and engage on a ‘campaign of education rather than misinformation’ to rectify the damage done in warping views on asylum and immigration.

Applauding journalists at the Guardian on immigration issues, Elena says the time is now for the wider media to spread the truth by calling Ministers to fact check the uncomfortable answers they want to hide.

In other words, hold the government to account for manipulation and misinformation.

Advice on dealing with intense media attention as a solicitor

In final words of advice, Elena suggests that the right tools in her job are (1) ‘a thick skin’, (2) ‘don’t be surprised by anything’ and (3) to ‘roll with the punches’.

Discussed in this podcast episode

• Immigration solicitor Elena Tsirlina’s introduction
• Winning formula for success
• Complexity of immigration law
• High profile case with Marina Litvinenko
• Why media interest means communications expertise is key
• Fake news, ‘black PR campaigns’ and dodgy money
• Call for the media to educate on immigration, not misinform
•  Advice for future solicitors

Links:

• https://montfort.london/services/managing-risks-and-crises/
• https://montfort.london/team/malcolm-munro/
• http://www.cdsmayfair.com/our-people-detail.aspx?People_ID=10027&pPK=9dfe1424-733f-4d45-a1b5-9b15fa2c6527
• http://www.cdsmayfair.com/home.aspx
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/21/litvinenko-unacceptable-breach-of-international-law
• https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160613090305/https://www.litvinenkoinquiry.org/
• https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/790207/Tier_1__Investor__Policy_Guidance_29_March_release_0319.pdf
• https://www.transparency.org/