Severn Williams
Speaker • Trainer
Communications Strategist
Principal, Public Good PR
Translating Expertise
A Media Playbook for Attorneys and Scientists with a Story to Tell
For 25 years, Severn Williams has translated complex legal and scientific arguments into messages that move legislators, reporters, and the public. Now he teaches attorneys and scientists to do it themselves.
Why this talk
Attorneys and scientists are trained to be thorough, precise, and defensible. But that’s exactly what makes them hard to listen to. Juries, donors, policymakers, and the public don’t reward the most accurate argument — they reward the most memorable one.
This talk gives lawyers and scientists a practical, no-nonsense way to help your work land the way you want it to with your priority audiences.
Key Learnings
- Why “more accurate” doesn’t equate to “more persuasive,” and what to do instead
- A simple framework for converting technical or legal arguments into a messages that stick
- How to keep your credibility intact while simplifying without “dumbing down”
- Live practice: reframing a real argument from the audience, in real time
Format
Available as a 45–60-minute keynote or a half-day interactive workshop. Both approaches blend real campaign case studies with hands-on message-crafting exercises tailored to the people in the room.
Severn Williams is the co-founder and Principal of Public Good PR, a West Coast communications firm that has built winning messaging strategies for high-stakes legal, scientific, and legislative campaigns since 2001.
Scientists work with Public Good PR to attract grant funding, publicize research and ideas, raise their institution’s profile, and reach readers beyond academic journals. Attorneys work with Public Good PR to educate and persuade the audiences that matter — the legal community, the public, and policymakers — while raising their firm’s profile, securing good publicity for clients, and standing out in a crowded field.
Severn works daily with attorneys and scientists who are brilliant at their work but unsure how to package their point of view into persuasive communications.
Severn and the team at Public Good PR help them close that gap.
Recent Work
Severn’s firm played a key role in the strategic communications work that eventually led to the removal of four Klamath River dams, the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. He is currently leading statewide communications efforts in California to preserve a strong and effective California Environmental Quality Act. Current clients include LA Waterkeeper and California Coastkeeper Alliance, where he supports persuasive communications to drive policy change around water quality and water security.
For the past 15 years, he has worked alongside the attorneys at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, supporting their clients on environmental cases and helping market the firm itself. His work has also included communications for the ACLU of Northern California on a major homelessness case and a partnership with the International Science Council to package and communicate updated considerations for the release of international research.
How I Can Help
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