Shillings - the law and “reputation management” firm that have been acting for Alisher Usanov in sabre-rattling at websites criticising Mr Usmanov’s record, may have a Public Relations problem themselves this morning requiring some “reputation management”.

If you search on Google for “Schillings“, the websites they took off the air come up as results one, two and five. I admit to a small amount of schadenfreude, because I like to see bullies taken down a peg or two.

If you’ve been away for a few days, let me bring you up to speed. You can read my first article here, and then follow the linked series through - or the next section gives you a potted version of the story so far.

Catch-Up

Schillings, a London Law firm, have closed down several prominent political blogs by contacting their webhosts, on behalf the new part owner of Arsenal - Alisher Usmanov. These blogs have made criticisms of Mr Usmanov. Schillings alleged that these criticisms were defamatory, and threatened legal action. Note that no court action has been taken, but the freedom to debate Mr Usmanov’s record has been taken away by the mere making of a threat.

As Mr Eugenides said:

These blogs are down not because Usmanov has been libelled, but because he says he’s been libelled, and has a room full of paid monkeys sitting at typewriters firing off theatening letters to that effect……If you can be silenced for calling a businessman a crook, then you can be silenced for calling a politician a crook, too. Then it’s everyone’s problem.

…I knew nothing about Alisher Usmanov this time yesterday; a rich businessman trying to increase his stake in Arsenal. So what? They’re ten a penny, if you’ll pardon the phrase.

Today, I know that he’s a [snip! - Mr E lawyers], a fat [snip! - Mr E lawyers] who was imprisoned for [snip! - Mr E lawyers] and even, it is whispered among his fellow Uzbeks, the perpetrator of a particularly vicious [snip! - Mr E lawyers]. And this is all directly because of his decision to legal up, and his lawyers’ decision to bring out the elephant guns.

There are now at least 200 blogs covering this story. Chicken Yoghurt has the details, and the history. It is also being covered by fully one-third of the Top 100 Bloggers in the Country - based on the list published at this time last year by Iain Dale.

That was since last Thursday afternoon. This is Monday morning and Schillings may have PR problems themselves.

Schillings: Public Relations Problems

Heather Yaxley is a PR blogger who has come up with the first comment on this situation from the viewpoint of a PR Professional:

The answer according to Schillings is, of course, to use “legal pressures” and be proactive in “managing” treatment by the media.

So no need for public relations professionals to build positive relationships or counsel management against behaviour that is likely to lead to negative headlines - simply use the might of money and legal means to silence those who oppose you.

She finishes:

So the question is, does PR stand for free speech or legal might in reputation management?

Interestingly, Shillings sponsored a champagne reception at the PR Week PRGlobal: International Reputation Management Summit. Perhaps it is a good job that it was last week not next week.

Keith Shilling at PR Global Conference: Workshop on Monitoring Blogs

Even more interestingly, if you look at the brochure for the conference at the Dorchester Hotel, you will see that it was attended by Keith Schilling - a senior partner at Schillings. There was even a workshop at the PR Global conference on new media:

“Monitoring Blogs, Online Media, Podcasts And Social Networking Sites To Promote And Protect Your Global Reputation”

This was the agenda presented by Paul Miller of Cision:

• Managing your dialogue with empowered consumers in a climate of user-generated content to virtually interact with and engage your audience across borders and time-zones.
• Understanding your online audience to formulate appropriate messages across targeted media platforms and use e-PR to power your brand internationally.
• Monitoring and tracking the huge diversity in the online media channels available to learn how to deliver the right messages through the right channels.
• Protecting your reputation: evaluating and prioritising which content is potentially damaging to your reputation and knowing how best to counter this.

I wonder if Mr Schilling went to that one?

The cost of the conference was £549 for one day. I hope they got value for money.

Search for Schillings on Google and look what happens?

I also hope they got some good contacts, because this morning I think they are going to need them. I have just done Google searches for “Schillings” (as a single keyword) on both Google UK, and Google Global, and the first five results are the same. I couldn’t have made it up if I had wanted to.

The screenshots are at the end of this article.

Result 1: bloggerheads.com - (i.e., the site that they had taken down last week)

“Bloggerheads (UK) - Schillings go a-shushing
Septicisle - Anyone got a Schilling update: Schillings have finally this afternoon deigned to reply to my two messages sent on Thursday evening. “

Result 2: lawCareers.Net - (fair enough - not sure about the “leading law firm protecting the reputations of individuals, corporates and brands” bit)

“Schillings - Solicitors - LawCareers.Net
Schillings is a leading law firm protecting the reputation of individuals, corporates and brands. The firm is involved in numerous high-profile, …”

Result 3:lawCareers.Net - (fair enough - not sure about “Par excellence” though after the current debacle)

“Schillings - LC.N Focus - General Information - LawCareers.Net -
Both feared and respected by Fleet Street, Schillings is the celebrity defamation firm par excellence. The practice has not only successfully handled …”

Result 4:craigmurray.co.uk - (i.e., the other site that they had taken down last week)

“Craig Murray - Yet More Schillings Bollocks
On my article about Alisher Usmanov which so incensed his lawyers Schillings, let me ask this question. Has anybody seen an argument posted or published ..”

Result 5:craigmurray.co.uk - (i.e., the other site that they had taken down last week)

“Craig Murray - Yet More Schillings Bollocks
On my article about Alisher Usmanov which so incensed his lawyers Schillings, let me ask this question. Has anybody seen an argument posted or published …”

Needless to say, all the offending articles that Mr Usmanov and Schillings have attempted to remove from public view are available in the Google Cache. And you can find them by using the search term “schillings“.

As far as I can tell Shillings’ own website does not feature in the top 100 results for either Google UK or google.com, except for the “sponsored” link which everyone ignores.

Perhaps they may need a Search Engine Optimisation Consultant as well as a Public Relations Consultant.

I can recommend a good one.

His name is Tim Ireland, and he runs a website called Bloggerheads when it has not been bullied off the air.

Searching for Schillings on Google.com this morning

Searching for Schillings on Google UK Pages this morning

Tags: schillings, alisher usmanov, public relations, reputation management, bloggerheads, craig murray, boris johnson, bob piper, tim ireland, takedown notice, heather yaxley[tags]schillings, alisher usmanov, public relations, reputation management, bloggerheads, craig murray, boris johnson, bob piper, tim ireland, takedown notice, heather yaxley[/tags]