September 18, 2017

Baby lamb on the outside, galvanized steel within. Those are the gloves as well as the technique embraced – if you will – by the rare birds top lawyers consider their media advisors. You can count on one hand those who have earned the trust of elite lawyers and firms, and the person currently setting the pace is a scrappy and charming upstart, Jamie Diaferia. Whether pitching and working through a career-building story or facing down an Enron or Penn State crisis, Diaferia of Infinite Global has attracted a legion of fans spanning star reporters to the best CMOs in the legal field.

He’s created that reputation over 20 years, pairing a legal education with an irresistible savvy. Long a gem known mostly the legal elite, he greatly expanded his platform a few years back, merging with the UK’s Spada. These days, he’s the go-to call for lawyers from Mountain View to Manhattan and on to the Magic Circle.

Lawdragon: Jamie, you are one of the most respected counselors in media, litigation and crisis communications strategies for top lawyers. What do you like most about that role? And what is most challenging about simultaneously having a dozen lawyers in crisis mode as clients?

Jamie Diaferia: With the exception of timesheets, I like everything about what I do. I’m at the perfect point in my career where I have more options in terms of how I can spend my time each day: media relations, client strategy, business operations, etc. Variety is important or you’ll burn out, and fortunately I can find different challenges in tasks that are new to me.

The hard part is structuring my days in a way that is most useful to the company, and then developing systems to keep it all straight. I’ve had to learn how to juggle 20 to 30 different tasks a day – and then adjust when a client crisis blows up. I make a lot of lists and I don’t sleep all that well.

Continue reading the interview on Lawdragon.