John O. Cunningham

My name is John Cunningham and I use the moniker “C-3” to describe my creative writing, communications and client development services. These services are enhanced by my passion for effective communication and my belief in the power of words.

Words matter. They can inform, inspire or call to action.They can shine a light in the darkness and make our pathway clear. They can connect people, glue them together as a team or focus them on organizational objectives.

Words are more than the skin of our living thoughts – they are the medium by which we telepathically convey those thoughts to others. Think about that. Words can literally allow us to read each other’s minds!

They are the wireless software that links the hardware in our brains and potentially can turn us into one powerful network. Choosing the right words for any communication is a thoughtful and critical task. The right words, like the right software, can enable operational functions within a team of individuals with critical speed and reliability.

But the wrong words, carelessly chosen or recklessly spoken, can become the basis of misunderstanding or distrust. They can crash the best operational system, or they can lead people down the wrong paths, resulting in disagreements, lawsuits, and worse. As Mark Twain once said, the difference between the right word and the wrong word is the difference between “lightning” and the “lightning bug.” It can be the difference between success and failure. That is why communications with your readers, employees, clients and vendors must be compelling, effective and incapable of misinterpretation.

It is my commitment to answer those needs, to find the words that are right for you in writing a story, in reporting news to any audience, or in any communications involving your organization.

Value Proposition

The value I bring to any communications project is derived from my unique professional background and training as a lawyer, business executive, reporter, and editor.

I spent the first years of my career as a commercial trial lawyer, learning about the pathology of deals gone bad and seeing how miscommunication was responsible for disasters. That led me to choose in-house work as a corporate counsel, preventing liabilities by preventing miscommunications and miscues. Then I became a corporate legal executive, focusing not just on prevention, but positive results grounded in teamwork.

Along the way, I found that my true passion and calling involved communications among people and teams in particular. So, I sharpened my communication skills as a reporter and editor for two weekly news journals over a period of more than four years before starting my own business.

As a result of my experiences, I can offer you the following attributes of a seasoned lawyer, reporter and business person that may fit your needs:

• The ability to interview people and capture essential information from them;
• The ability to present the information in a compelling way;
• The ability to “headline” what is most important to you;
• The ability to understand the culture, language, and organizational goals of your professional service firm or business; and
• The knowledge that comes from interviewing many top-level marketing officers, managing partners and CEOs all across the country.

Personal Profile and Bio

I have written literally hundreds of bylined articles for more than 20 trade publications and mainstream press outlets. My writing has covered a variety of business issues and almost every specialized area of legal practice. One of my areas of particular focus has been management and marketing operations in law firms.

For more than four years, I was a news writer and editor for Lawyers Weekly publications (including Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly and Lawyers Weekly USA). In that capacity, I handled news and feature stories regarding major cases, legislation, and trends in legal practice. I also provided legal commentary to radio stations, a cable news station and other press outlets.

Prior to that, I practiced law for more than 16 years, serving nearly four years as Vice President and General Counsel of Uno Restaurant Corporation, a then publicly traded company that owned or franchised restaurants and sold retail products in more than 20 states and overseas. Before that, I served for roughly five years as General Counsel and corporate secretary of Chief Auto Parts, a multi-state automotive retailer in the Southwest that was taken over by AutoZone. Employees there voted my law department as “the best internal service provider” among all departments in the company.

As a lawyer and executive, I became familiar with almost all areas of commercial practice and operations, including real estate development, risk management, finance, marketing, intellectual property, warehousing, distribution, human resources and employment law.

I obtained my law school degree from Boston College Law School in 1981, where I was a magna cum laude graduate, a member of the Order of the Coif, and a writer/editor for the Environmental Affairs Law Review.

My undergraduate work was done at Wabash College, where I received a degree in English literature in 1978, an award for best student of literature and writing as a senior, an award for best student of literature and writing as a junior, a presidential scholarship, and a nomination for a Danforth fellowship (only two students from the school received the nomination).

Being a good citizen and community member is very important to me, and I have volunteered my efforts in the past toward a number of causes. Some of my favorite volunteer activities have included: tutoring underprivileged kids; coaching little league; working for the Cancer Society in my neighborhood; visiting elderly people without family as a member of Little Brothers; and speaking to local clubs about the legal system and legal process.

I was also the original co-founder, producer and chief scriptwriter for the Dallas, TX “Bar None” musical comedy, a charity fundraiser annually performed by legal professionals since 1986 (which has now raised more than $1 million for diversity scholarships at SMU).

See Bar None page.

For more than a decade, I also served as Chairman of the Board of Editors for the Legal Sales and Service Organization, and I volunteered a limited amount of writing/editing work for non-profit causes.

My latest goal is to provide a course in “financial and legal literacy” for high school students who are facing an increasingly complex and dynamic world. I am happy to speak with anyone who would be interested in my service toward that goal.

Contact Info

To reach me, you can call:              (508)653-9808   OR

you can send an e-mail to me at:     c3cunningham@aol.com