Jonas Sakalauskas keeps a pair of work boots in the trunk of his car. Not for hiking.

Because you never know when you'll need to rush to the scene of an incident. An environmental emergency is nothing like walking across a polished office floor.

Yesterday, at the BNS Lithuania Media Breakfast '26, Jonas shared what he has learned from handling crises: how a communications crisis can become a legal one within hours. How a single improperly discarded battery can become a media story within 30 minutes, and, an hour later, trigger the inevitable question from authorities: Who is responsible?

But these were the key messages Jonas wanted to leave the audience with:

1️⃣ In a crisis, there is no such thing as "we'll clarify later."

A common mistake is giving a statement now and assuming it can always be corrected afterwards. The problem is that once something has been said, it stays on the record. The very same sentence may resurface years later in an entirely different context.

Jonas experienced this firsthand just last week, when a single sentence taken out of context reappeared in the media four years after it had originally been said.

2️⃣ A lawyer does not step into a crisis to "fix the wording."

Their role is to ensure that communications remain accurate both today and when the situation is later examined by regulators, investigators, or the courts.

3️⃣ Good crisis communication is not the message that sounds best on the day of the crisis.

It is the one that still sounds wise a year later.

Thank you to the Lithuanian Bar Association and BNS Lithuania for a great event!

Photo: Lukas Balandis, BNS