SEP 2026
Being in the News Isn't the Same as Moving Opinion
Strategy
4 MIN
PLAINTIFF-SIDE LITIGATION COMMUNICATIONS
I Turn Your Story Into Pressure the Defense Can’t Ignore.
The defense had a communications plan in place before you filed. Here’s what they’ll say: it’s already fixed. There’s no causation, no science. The plaintiffs aren’t representative. It was an isolated incident, one bad employee. None of it survives a fact-check. I make sure your client’s story is the one people believe.
Text me your case name and I’ll send you a short brief on what the defense’s communications operation is already doing — free, within 12 hours.
From the Newsroom to the Courtroom
I’m the principal of Oliver & Ginger, and I’ve worked in plaintiff litigation communications for twenty-nine years. Before that, five years as a reporter at Dow Jones — and before that, Booz Allen.
I know what it takes to get a story placed, because I’ve been on the receiving end of the pitch. That’s not a credential you can hire. It’s a perspective you either have or you don’t.
“A corporate giant once sent someone to go through my trash. I opened the back door and said make sure you take it to the curb.”
A defense firm looking for leverage on a case I was working — this is what twenty-nine years of doing this looks like from the other side.
That conviction is also why I co-founded the Women’s Innocence Clinic, helping wrongly convicted women — we don’t accept donations, but we do accept help. Outside the firm, I’m the mother of two grown children, a lawyer and a teacher — and a soft touch for rescues: a Maine Coon and a Cavachon who run the house most days.
WHAT THE NUMBER ACTUALLY PROVES
From a $50,000,000 Float to a $190,000,000 Final Settlement.
The dollar jump isn’t the point. On July 21, 2014 — four days after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down — national coverage was expected to run all day on U.S.-Russia tensions. A mass tort settlement doesn’t usually beat that for attention. This one did: the AP wire story landed more than a million press hits in 24 hours, picked up same-day by The Washington Post, NPR, and NBC News.
THE BASELINEThe defense was offering $50 million, and building its case around one bad employee — an isolated failure, not a pattern.
THE INTERVENTIONI got the AP wire story in front of that narrative before the defense’s version could set the terms. Coverage that frames a case as a pattern, not an isolated incident, changes what it costs the defense to keep fighting instead of settling.
THE OUTCOMEOnce that story ran, the number moved from the $50 million the defense had been offering to a final settlement of $190 million for 9,000 people.
CLIENT RESULTS
“Karen has the ability to get press no one else seems to get. She understands false narratives and knows how to tell the real story. Her media connections are unmatched.”
Jonathan Schochor
Schochor, Federico & Staton · Lead counsel
If your clients’ injuries get labeled political before a jury ever hears them, the problem isn’t the mainstream press — it’s the wrong audience. I start by finding out what your audience already believes, whether the underlying facts hold up, where they actually get their information, and who they trust enough to listen to. That’s what decides where the story runs — not a list of national outlets that were never going to cover it fairly.
How I Solve It
01
Find the audience. I map where your specific audience already gets information — a podcast, a community, a reporter who already covers this exact issue — before I write a word.
02
Check the facts. I verify what holds up in the record and what doesn’t, so nothing goes out that can be picked apart.
03
Place it where they already are. The plan runs where that audience already listens, not on a wish list of national outlets.
An MDL can run for years. The defense’s communications team doesn’t stop working during discovery, and yours shouldn’t either. I track what they’re doing and keep your case’s story alive between the milestones that make headlines — on a set schedule, with a monthly report your leadership committee can actually use, not just when there’s news to react to. You get one person to call, not a rotating cast.
How I Solve It
01
Track the defense from day one. I identify who they’ve retained and what they’re doing before the case is a headline.
02
Work a schedule, not a news cycle. Monitoring and coverage run on a set calendar, so the story doesn’t wait for the next court date to move.
03
Report monthly. Your leadership committee gets a written report against the success measure you defined at the start — not a clip count.
A win gets one day of coverage, then the defendant’s team quietly manages the appeal. I keep the pressure on after the trial — through the appeal, the related cases, and the regulatory attention a verdict like yours should be generating.
How I Solve It
01
Don’t stop at the verdict. The plan continues into the appeal and any related litigation.
02
Connect it publicly. I tie the verdict to the regulatory or institutional consequences it should be producing.
03
Keep it visible. Coverage continues on the same schedule after trial as before it.
CLOSING
Victim and Survivor Communications
Your claimants aren’t just the record — they’re who the defense targets next. I prepare them for press contact before it happens, and I handle every reporter request that reaches them personally.
The defense is often already working this ground before your complaint is finished.
01 // GEOFENCING
Whether targeted ads are running in the zip codes around the courthouse or your claimants’ communities.
02 // KEYWORD BIDDING
Whether your firm’s name or case terms are being bid on to intercept your traffic.
03 // LOOK-ALIKE SITES
Whether a spoof intake site is catching your claimants before they find you.
04 // SEARCH VISIBILITY
Whether your organic presence is being pushed down in the markets that matter.
This is a plain check on verifiable public ad data — not a claim about who is specifically retained on your matter, and not a substitute for discovery.
See What They Are Hiding.
Send me the name of your biggest active case right now by text or email. Within 12 hours, workload permitting, my desk will run a simple 12-Hour Audit — ad-tracking data, branded search terms, and organic rankings tied to your case.
✓ No automated marketing emails.
✓ No long forms to fill out.
✓ If they aren’t attacking you, I’ll tell you that too.
✓ No long-term contract — an exit built in from day one.
No jargon, no codenames — this is the plain version.
01
Before You File
I check what’s already running against your case before your complaint is filed, using the same public check described above.
02
One Story
I build the story your case runs on, so the defense isn’t the only one shaping how it’s understood.
03
Standing Watch
I personally track how the story develops through discovery and motions practice, and brief you the moment something shifts.
04
At the Table
Going into mediation or a bellwether window, you know what public pressure is doing to the case.
HOW THE WORK SCALES
One Direct Line. A Vetted Bench Behind It.
You reach me directly, every time. When a matter’s volume calls for more hands, I bring in a vetted bench — nobody with less than ten years of experience touches your account. You’re never handed off to a junior tier.
SERVICES · DOCUMENTARY & LONG-FORM PRODUCTION
When the Story Is Big Enough for a Camera, Not Just a Byline.
Some matters outgrow a press release. When a documentary crew, streaming outlet, or long-form producer wants access to an MDL or mass tort, I manage that access on the litigation’s terms — never the production’s.
See Documentary & Long-Form Production →LEGISLATIVE & POLICY ADVOCACY
When a Verdict Exposes a Policy Gap, I Build the Public Case for Closing It.
A settlement closes a case. It doesn’t always close the gap that let the harm happen in the first place.
See Legislative & Policy Advocacy →Short, practical pieces on what actually moves coverage, opinion, and outcomes.
AUG 2026
Social Media Cleanup Before the Complaint Drops
Claimant Comms
4 MIN
AUG 2026
The Strategic Leak
Media Placement
4 MIN
A SECOND TRACK
Build a Reputation That Wins the Next Ten Cases.
Case work protects the matter in front of you. Firm Growth is different — it builds your firm’s public reputation over years, not one case at a time.
Will retaining you create a discoverable record?
No parallel file. Engaged through your firm, under privilege, structured as attorney work product from the first conversation.
Is this ethical?
This work is structured as privileged attorney work product, under counsel’s direction, and compliant with Rule 3.6 on trial publicity. I never contact jurors, witnesses, or the venire.
Do you guarantee a larger settlement?
No honest person does. What I guarantee: the defense loses its monopoly on the story.
Who actually does the work?
I lead and personally start every engagement from day one. You always have my direct line. When the volume of a matter demands scale, I bring in a vetted bench — no one with less than ten years of experience touches your account.
What does this cost?
The 12-hour audit is free. Ongoing work is a retainer sized to your matter, with no long-term lock-in — not a flat agency fee.
Can you be paid from a common benefit fund?
Yes. In MDL and mass tort matters, I can be paid out of a common benefit fund under the court’s cost order, with accounting and documentation supplied for the court.
The Defense Has a Plan for This Case. So Do I.
The defense has already mapped your case and briefed the reporters who’ll cover it. You don’t need to build that operation from scratch — you need one call.
All work is structured as privileged attorney work product and Rule 3.6 compliant.