From Latin Lawyer’s The Guide to Corporate Crisis Management – Sixth Edition
In today’s volatile business environment, issues with significant legal implications – from product recalls to regulatory investigations – can quickly escalate into crises that threaten a company’s reputation and long-term success.
This risk is amplified in regions like Latin America, where unpredictable enforcement, diverse regulatory regimes and public expectations add layers of complexity. While legal counsel is often the first line of defense, relying solely on legal strategy can leave companies exposed to reputational damage that no courtroom victory can undo.
Effective crisis management demands seamless collaboration between legal and communications teams from the very start, ensuring that every move is scrutinized not just for its legal merit, but for how it will resonate with stakeholders and the public.
In this chapter, Paul Holmes and Eric Wachter examine when a legal issue can become a communications crisis and describe the important role that strategic communications play in containing the reputational – and ultimately financial – impact of a legal or other corporate crisis. They also outline some of the most common communications pitfalls that companies face, particularly at the outset of a crisis, in managing these situations. Finally, they offer best practice insights into how legal counsel and communications advisers can, and must, work together to avoid trouble and steer through a crisis successfully.
Read the full chapter
Accreditation: "This article was first published on Latin Lawyer in November 2025; for further in-depth analysis, please visit Latin Lawyer The Guide to Corporate Crisis Management Sixth Edition."