Can Legal, communicators reach accord on social media?

Do you suffer an adversarial relationship with your company’s legal team, or do you enjoy a collaborative one?

With so many variables at issue in an array of companies and industries, a consensus on Legal’s role is impossible, especially in the realm of social media.

Some never involve lawyers in social media; some ask for help but fear a slew of requisite approvals will gum up the works; still others in regulated industries have no choice but to keep Legal fully involved.

Its legal team has handled social media issues, of course, but Clorox wants a dedicated counsel to help quicken the approval/tweaking process, especially given the expanding field and the flurry of online communication, spokeswoman Kathryn Caulfield told Ragan.com.

Communicator Carin Galletta sees Clorox’s logic, but counted herself among the Legal detractors for most of her career.

Galetta, president of marketing agency Ink Foundry, used to call Legal the “corporate castration” department because it took great ideas and stripped them down “until they were nothing more than minor puffs of ineffective smoke.”

A seminar about social media legal disasters prompted her to see the benefit of involving Legal from the start.