All one needs to do is look at the weather over the past year to know how significantly it can impact a business. Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, snow storms, tornadoes, fires and mudslides have been mainstays in the headlines for months and have wreaked havoc on businesses from coast to coast. These severe weather scenarios can lead to closed offices, employees who cannot get to work and client matters that might be significantly delayed.

With the crazy weather that seems to be the norm today, it's now critical to include severe weather events in PR crisis communications plans for your law firm and prepare contingency planning for different scenarios. Smart law firms and their PR teams know that predicting all possibilities is an essential aspect of crisis management, and it's more important than ever to ensure that law firms make the necessary preparations to be ready when trouble strikes.

Law firms need to consider a range of weather scenarios that could affect their operations, as well as their employees. And as with other types of crises, preparation for severe weather requires creating a PR crisis plan that covers protocols for communicating with the media, public and internal audiences is critical.