Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders Lee Pacchia and Joan Vollero, Managing Directors of Special Situations, ICR – Mastering Crisis: Navigating High-Stakes Shifts with Legal and Communications Expertise
When it comes to high-stakes strategising for businesses undergoing challenging shifts, the incredible value of legal training mixed with communications expertise can't be overstated. Today's guests know all about that.
On this episode, we welcome two of ICR's finest, Joan Vollero and Lee Pacchia. Joan and Lee are both Managing Directors in ICR's Special Situations practice group.
Joan advises companies and individuals on a wide range of matters relating to crisis and litigation. For more than 11 years, she ran communications and external affairs for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, where she served as the Director of Communications and a Senior advisor to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. Earlier in her career, Joan worked as a journalist at New York One News. She's a graduate of Tufts University and received her masters from the Med Hills School of Journalism in Northwestern University.
Lee is also in ICR's Special Situations practice, where he works on a range of corporate crisis matters with a focus on advising, financially distressed businesses, exploring strategic alternatives, restructuring, or chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Previously, Lee served as a Senior Executive at a boutique restructuring advisory firm, providing financial, operational and communications advisory services to companies in crisis, restructurings, or bankruptcy. After completing his Law Degree at New York Law School, Lee clerked for the US Bankruptcy Court, before joining Bloomberg as a journalist covering bankruptcy in the legal industry.
Highlights:
- How Joan was introduced to litigation communications (3:03)
- Cases and matters Joan handled during her time at the Manhattan DA Office (3:41)
- Common mistakes made by companies involved in high-profile court cases (4:23)
- Lee's previous work and how it led him to his current consultation position (5:45)
- Self-awareness and denial when creating internal solutions for management teams (8:15)
- How management teams can be prepared, and what internal functions need to be concerned about (9:51)
- Scenarios when management teams need experts like Joan and Lee for guidance (10:56)
- Misconceptions about the term bankruptcy, and what it means for a business (13:03)
- What has stayed the same, and what has changed in the litigation world in recent years (14:27)
- How Joan approaches sensitive situations when management teams are experiencing turbulent litigation situations (15:08)
- How ICR's array of clients attracted Joan to her position (17:14)
- Recent interesting developments, and working with management teams in the emerging technology space (19:24)
- A recent public case that Joan would have liked to litigate (21:15)
- A recent public case that Lee would have liked to litigate (22:25)
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If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, marion@lowerstreet.co.