As the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team plays in the FIFA Women's World Cup to attempt a recordbreaking third straight World Cup victory, it reminds me of how their public relations strategy allowed them to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in their six-year legal fight for pay equity.
As former Justice Anthony Kennedy once stated in the 1991 U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada: "An attorney's duties do not begin inside the courtroom door."
The USWNT in Alex Morgan v. U.S. Soccer Federation Inc. personified that statement and proved there is more to lawsuits than what happens in the courtroom. They had a three-pronged game plan to win in the court of public opinion that included a simple argument delivered consistently by messengers who rallied third-party validators.
This column originally appeared on Law360.com -- read the full piece here.
