The Intersection of Crisis Communication and The Law (4/24/25)

Veteran crisis communication specialist Lissa Druss, of Strategia Consulting, joined by U.S. District Court Judge Iain D. Johnston, will take attendees through the anatomy of crisis, how the integrity of litigation is preserved, and how the court of public opinion is swayed using precise crisis communication tactics.

Speaker:
Lissa Druss, Cav., OSI, Founder & CEO, Strategia Consulting
Judge Iain D. Johnston, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois

About Lissa Druss
For more than 35 years, Lissa has established a powerful reputation– across the country – as a highly seasoned public affairs strategist, crisis management leader, nine-time Emmy award-winning television journalist, media consultant, guest lecturer, and tireless client advisor. In addition to leading the Strategia team, she counsels clients on issues at the intersection of government affairs and lobbying, crisis communications, municipal relations, media relations/training, corporate communications, internal/external communications strategy, and social media. Lissa is also the national government relations director for Riot Hospitality Group, a national hospitality management company based in Scottsdale, AZ.

During her eight years with Serafin & Associates, Lissa’s clients included large and small corporations, celebrities, municipalities, and law enforcement agencies across the United States and, in some cases, the world. She spent 21 years as a television news and sports journalist working primarily for CBS before capping her television career as the executive producer launching the Comcast SportsNet networks in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Houston, and New York, winning the 2009 Chicago Journalism Award in Sports. She has written and produced for news, entertainment, and sports and has covered headline stories, including the Persian Gulf War, the Oklahoma City bombing, the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the Chicago Bulls championships, and numerous national and local elections.

About Judge Johnston
Judge Iain D. Johnston was appointed to the position of United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Western Division in September 2020. He handles dispositive matters for civil and all felony criminal matters in the Division. From 2013 through 2020, he was the U.S. Magistrate Judge for the same court, where he handled pretrial matters for all civil and criminal cases.

Judge Johnston earned his Bachelor of Science from Rockford University in 1987 and his Juris Doctor from UIC John Marshall Law School in 1990. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Philip G. Reinhard in both the Illinois Appellate Court and United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Judge Johnston was also a Unit Supervisor in the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. He then entered private practice, during which time he was a partner at Altheimer & Gray and senior counsel at Holland & Knight. On April 1, 2008, with Andrew Greene, he co-founded Johnston Greene LLC, where he litigated nearly anything a client would pay him to litigate.

Judge Johnston has published dozens of articles, which have been relied on as authority by courts across the country. He was The Last DJ on SiriusXM’s Tom Petty Radio during the week of July 4, 2022. He also serves as an adjunct professor at UIC John Marshall Law School.

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