Helping Lawyers Tell Compelling Stories: Infinite Global’s Clay Steward

Clay Steward knows how to wield a story, and he’s all about sticking the landing. The former lawyer initially fell in love with law because, at his core, Steward is a storyteller. Not only does he innately understand how to structure a good story – he’s adept in crafting a textured message, ripe with resonance, that lands with impact. So when Steward found a way to weave his legal background and strategic communications expertise, he knew it was the perfect fit.

While it’s been 16 years since Steward actively practiced law, he still speaks the language. He started his career as a litigator, then followed the bright lights of Hollywood to work in film financing before switching gears into the nonprofit world. He then pulled all of these strands together to serve as a public relations consultant in the legal sector, ultimately joining top-tier PR agency Infinite Global in 2021, where he helps lawyers and firms build targeted, high-impact communications campaigns, as well as anticipate and strategically shape public opinion. His varied background and position as a trusted advisor in active litigation and crisis situations has earned Steward a reputation as a savvy reputation manager.

“At Infinite Global, we have developed and honed strategies for helping lawyers understand the value of PR,” says Steward. “I think it's an exercise in emotional intelligence. Our job is to meet them where they are, understand what they fear about PR, uncover their strengths and address any challenges.”

At Infinite Global, Steward has found an ideal professional home amongst ambitious yet collaborative colleagues who thrive in an organizational culture guided by four core values: integrity, agility, courage and compassion. The strategic law firm advisor places a premium on communicating authentically, with vulnerability and respect.

“If you want folks to come around to your argument and support you, you don’t talk about what you do or what you are good at,” says Steward. “Instead, you talk about the impact you're having in people's lives and the way you're changing the system.”

Lawdragon: What originally drew you to working in the legal industry?

Clay Steward: From a very early age, I knew roughly that I wanted to be a lawyer. Mostly because I enjoyed writing, reading, public speaking, arguing and storytelling. I participated in speech, debate and mock trial in high school. I went to UC Hastings in San Francisco for law school and really enjoyed it. I spent the summer after my first year of law school working in D.C. at the Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights, and then my second summer in the Federal Public Defender's Office. It was really clear when I got to law school that I wanted to be doing more impact work, either pro bono or plaintiff-side advocacy, and I wasn't going to go the corporate law firm route.

If you want folks to come around to your argument and support you, you don’t talk about what you do or what you are good at. Instead, you talk about the impact you're having in people's lives and the way you're changing the system.

After law school I went to Los Angeles and spent my first two years as a litigator. I found that while the things that were interesting to me about the law were very interesting, the things that felt like a grind or a slog or too rules-driven were really mind-numbing for me. Working on cases that would drag on for years, being mired in delays, discovery battles and petty motion practice back and forth – I realized it wasn't the way I like to operate.

Then I moved into transactional work in Hollywood, which was hugely fun and interesting. I helped put together financing deals with banks and distributors for independent films. I got to go to the Sundance Film Festival and the Independent Spirit Awards. As a film buff, those were great experiences. But in the end, I realized I love entertainment for the storytelling and that I didn't want to be pushing paper and helping secure a bank’s investment for the rest of my career.

At that point I decided I wanted to switch things up – time for a clean break from the law. First, I went traveling in South America for eight months, which provided me the space to think deeply about what sort of a career would both make me the happiest and help me have a greater impact on the world. When I returned from my South American adventure, on the heels of the 2008 financial crisis, I moved into nonprofit work. I wanted to tell a different type of story.

LD: Which nonprofits?

CS: First, I worked at St. Joseph Center in Venice, California. It provides a variety of services to low-income and homeless individuals and families. That's where I first learned that, if you want folks to come around to your argument and support you, you don’t talk about what you do or what you're going to do or what you are good at. Instead, you talk about the impact you're having in people's lives and the way you're changing the system.

After a few years doing that, I transitioned to a nonprofit in downtown Los Angeles called Inner-City Arts. It's one of the largest and most well-known nonprofit arts centers in the U.S., and it's based just off Skid Row, adjacent to the arts district in downtown Los Angeles. This role really opened my eyes to the power of creativity.

LD: And how did you then transition into legal PR?

CS: I worked in-house for a year at a midsize, national law firm where my job was essentially to talk to partners and get them focused on their business development goals and explore how to better tell that story through content. I loved the work, but being in-house at a law firm didn't completely match my personality and my commitment to work-life balance. I first went to a different professional services-focused PR agency, and worked there for about four years before joining Infinite Global about three years ago as a Vice President. My post-nonprofit career has been roughly eight years now, and it's been almost exclusively doing PR and strategic communications for law firms, or legal-adjacent businesses, legal tech companies, some financial services companies, but mostly in the B2B space.

LD: What does the mix of your work look like?

My background as a lawyer means I'm able to be pretty plug-and-play when it comes to working with litigators. I'm the guy they go to when they need to quickly ramp up.

CS: I would say about 50 percent of my time is focused on our law firm retainer accounts, where we're working to help them build out their PR program and identify opportunities to position them with the press or place bylined articles. I'm managing probably six or seven teams in that respect.

Another 25 percent is litigation PR and crisis work. Some of the work comes in through my existing clients, litigation-focused firms. Sometimes it’s part of our monthly work with them, and sometimes it's a separate engagement because, for example, it's a major piece of litigation that is just about to be filed. They'll bring us in to work on messaging and media relations, essentially from the inception of a lawsuit all the way through trial. We have a reputation now in terms of handling really high-profile litigation PR matters, whether it be for plaintiffs or defendants.

My background as a lawyer means I'm able to be pretty plug-and-play when it comes to working with litigators. I'm the guy they go to when they need to quickly ramp up and we need to start telling the story of the litigation to reporters that day. I can read through the complaint or legal documents and identify a strategy that will work relatively quickly. Then I also do some crisis consultation work if there’s any sort of reputational threat.

The last 25 percent is serving as one of the leaders of the organization. I serve on the global senior management team, focused on our marketing and business development efforts. I also serve on our hiring committee, which is a role that I really value. I also serve as a career manager and mentor, which I thoroughly enjoy. I always carve out some time for organizational development projects to make sure that we're continuing to grow, not only in terms of size and reach, but in the way we cultivate a positive work culture.

LD: Sounds like you’re really part of the company’s growth.

CS: Yes, and I really enjoy that. We're a midsize agency now. It's no longer a small startup boutique. We have the resources and vision and bench strength to really deliver great results for a winning group of clients, but we're not so big that we become cumbersome and can't be agile. I think we're at the right size. I know everybody at the agency, but I don't work with the same people on every one of my accounts. I have the opportunity to work with the full range of people at the organization, which is great.

We have a team of folks that realizes that the best way to rise within the organization is to make everybody look good – not only our clients, but our colleagues. That's what's going to ultimately elevate them within the organization. We have a collegial culture that prioritizes asking questions, working hard, moving things forward and staying proactive. But do not be a jerk. We don't hire jerks. I think that the cultural aspect of it is really important. We're an organization guided by fundamental values. The four values that underpin all our work are integrity, agility, courage and compassion.

Attorneys are actually better storytellers than they give themselves credit for.

LD: What do you find most rewarding about this work?

CS: Here’s one example. We've been doing a significant amount of work on the plaintiff side for individuals who are bringing claims under the Adult Survivors Act. It has been hugely rewarding because we're ultimately telling the story of somebody who has persevered through very difficult treatment, oftentimes in the workplace. A lot of those cases have been against very high-profile individuals and celebrities, and we're threading the needle of managing a very sensitive situation while protecting the survivor. We make sure they're not too out there in a way that's going to make them vulnerable or exploit them, but also, it’s important that the matter stays in the news because you want there to be a reckoning. You want to keep it front of mind for people because you're working for a survivor who has been told “no” every step of the way and has had their truth denied at every turn. You really become an advocate for them, and their position.

LD: That’s such a delicate balance.

CS: We've also been doing more work in the sports space. I have a huge interest in sports, so that’s fun for me. More and more we’re seeing law, regulation, business and sports all colliding in this really interesting way. Whether it be gambling restrictions, private equity investment, internal investigations into teams that have done bad things in the workplace. One of the cases I worked on was on behalf of a firm that brought a class action against Major League Baseball on behalf of Minor League Baseball players seeking fair compensation. My role was to help sports reporters understand the issues. Because they are not legal reporters, they don't write about things like overtime laws and federal preemption very often. So, I became the legal whisperer to the sports reporters. That was hugely rewarding. The case resulted in a $185M settlement that forever changed the way that minor league players will be paid. And now the Minor League Baseball players have developed their own players union and will participate in the collective bargaining process. It really transformed the business model of our oldest pastime in America.

LD: When would you say is the right time for law firms to get PR involved?

CS: It's never too early to consult with PR. On the plaintiffs’ side, attorneys are often very protective of their complaints and they don't want anyone to see it while it's in draft stage. But I'll tell you, the sooner we can get in and start reviewing the complaint and understanding the intricacies of the case, familiarizing ourselves with the background, the better. If we can start talking a week to two weeks or even more before the case is filed – that’s great.

On the defense side, there are certain instances where you're not aware of a case until your client is sued and you're retained. So, the first step, if you've got a robust internal comms and marketing team, is for an attorney to speak with them. If there's any inkling that because of the profile of the client or the stakes of the litigation that the press is going to be interested or that the plaintiff who's suing you has some PR muscle and is going to benefit from wanting to make a big stink about this litigation, it’s a good idea to get PR involved. That way, when something does happen, we’re able to jump in quickly and get on the phone with a reporter and be able to speak about the case intelligently rather than be scrambling at the last second to get engagement letters signed and orient ourselves.

One thing I like about lawyers is that they attack problems from all sides. They anticipate what's coming next and they develop a plan for addressing it. That's how I operate as well.

Attorneys are actually better storytellers than they give themselves credit for. Their ability to see the most salient points of a transaction or a piece of litigation, is strong. They just don't always frame it in the right way. A lot of what we do is help to get their messages dialed in. Lawyers often resort to legalese and of course they’re very focused on the details and the rules and the precedent, but they don't always realize that once this makes it into the press, people want to know what story is being told, why it’s important and why they should care.

LD: You mentioned you’re a cinephile – is there a TV show or film about the law that you particularly love?

CS: I loved “Michael Clayton,” with George Clooney. It's a very dark film, but essentially a lawyer has a bit of a breakdown working at a firm on a project, and George Clooney is brought in as a fixer to smooth it over. It’s very cynical, but it was such a thoughtful exploration of the way that legal and crisis communications come together right now in the corporate world.

LD: And tell us, what do you like about working with lawyers?

CS: I used to be a lawyer, so I tend to vibe with lawyers very well. One thing in particular that I like about lawyers is that they attack problems from all sides. They anticipate what's coming next and they develop a plan for addressing it. That's how I operate as well. I feel like I speak that language. When we're speaking to a lawyer and trying to get them to embrace PR, if they're hesitant, I don't let that frustrate me because that's how a lawyer's brain works. They can be resistant to new things and somewhat risk averse. At Infinite Global, we have developed and honed strategies for helping lawyers understand the value of PR. I think it's an exercise in emotional intelligence. Our job is to meet them where they are, understand what they fear about PR, uncover their strengths and address any challenges.