Lawyers are, according to the Standard's city desk, the worst at PR. The Times Law pages would probably agree, having given legal PRs a kicking last month. 

So what's the Standard's beef with the legal PR machine?

The Standard's Simon English says lawyers are too serious and sober, they won't criticise clients (really), they don't understand how the press work, and when they do provide a briefing it is largely unusable. 

All serious stuff. 

It's difficult to see what rattled the Standard's pen.  If a law firm or a client of a firm was under the spotlight law firms tend to close doors. Simon's criticism would then be understandable. 

But, that is rarely the case.  More often that not, lawyers are called upon to explain complex court cases or points of law. 

It can be a challenging to provide such a briefing in a way that suits a tabloid paper.  One wants headlines, the other focuses on detail.

And whilst a journalist will need to turn his or her hand to many different businesses and industry sectors, lawyers (and particularly those in the City) will focus on quite a narrow area of law. Don't ask, for example, a property lawyer to talk about corporate governance.

There are many great lawyers in the city, and quite a few media savvy ones. Rather that right off the entire profession as being rubbish at PR, look to find a lawyer that understands the Standard's business pages, the story or issue being covered, and perhaps look outside of the City's giants.

That is where a good PR can help.