Crisis Management

Practice Contacts

Crisis Management

Communication is global and instantaneous. Businesses need to be prepared for the negative and potentially devastating consequences that legal, financial, environmental or workplace problems can create. Preparation should occur well before a corporate response is sought or delivered. A misstep when news of a crisis hits could damage a company’s brand and derail future profitability.

The Crisis Management team at Taft not only responds to a crisis, but also lays the groundwork in anticipation of a crisis. We understand the high-stakes environment in which our clients operate and strive to help them protect their reputation and bottom line. We pride ourselves in our ability to anticipate and prevent crises and facilitate communication and response in times of need.

Corporate reputations that are tried in the court of public opinion can be monumentally damaged if a crisis is not handled effectively and intelligently. We have significant depth of experience across multiple industries, so we can bring immediate value and relief to crisis situations involving:

Anticorruption violations.
Antitrust violations.
Class actions.
Criminal investigations.
E-discovery.
Environmental exposure.
Health care fraud and abuse.
Intellectual property theft.
Internal corporate investigations.
Personal injury.
Product recalls.
Securing insurance to finance the defense.
Securities matters.
Tax matters.
Technology network security breaches.
Theft of trade secrets.
Workplace accidents, incidents, harassment or violence.

We seek and defend against emergency injunctive relief in state and federal court, a critical component to crisis management. Our attorneys have helped clients in bet-the-company emergencies by enjoining:

The exercise of arbitrary government police power to permanently shut down a successful closely-held business on a holiday weekend.
The abrupt termination of electrical power to the environmental control systems of an aluminum smelter that prevented large-scale contamination of soil, surface waters and groundwater.
The unlawful and unannounced transfer of millions of dollars of impressionist art from a prestigious museum.
The destruction of a coal mine while the demolition crews were onsite and actively engaged in the demolition.

Our Process

Our goal is to disrupt and distinguish the triggers that can negatively impact the daily operations, financial strength and durability of our clients. Our process begins with:

Defining the team.
Delegating responsibilities.
Listing critical stakeholders.
Defining pre-approved messages.
Notifying parties that procedures and contacts are in place (for stakeholders, politicians, media and public communications).

By building the groundwork for crisis communication and responding quickly, we help clients mitigate risk when government investigators show up unannounced, when workplace injury or violence occurs, when financial problems threaten to undermine a company and when other unforeseen negative news arises.