This article was originally published on Finsbury.com
From Brazil to Panama, Argentina to Ecuador, businesses operating in Latin America have faced an upswing in high-profile legal and reputational crises, landing them in international headlines and the crosshairs of regulators, prosecutors and judges, both domestic and foreign.
Many of these incidents have been driven, in part, by specific regional factors, including increased public opposition to government corruption and widely varying and unpredictable legal, regulatory, political and judicial regimes. For companies, the challenges in managing emerging issues are exacerbated by a media environment in which information travels faster and further than ever before. Key stakeholders’ expectations of responses are similarly heightened.
For any global business, pressures like these can lead to mistakes early on that might create, exacerbate or prolong a crisis. A lack of close alignment between a company’s communications and legal functions, including its outside counsel and advisors, easily can turn a seemingly contained issue into a high-profile, potentially costly crisis where one need not exist.
In the chapter at the link below, Finsbury’s Paul Holmes and Eric Wachter provide perspective on three key areas of crisis management:
Detailing the important role that strategic communications play in helping contain the reputational – and ultimately financial – impact of a legal or other corporate crisis;
Exploring some of the most common communications pitfalls that companies face when managing these emerging situations, particularly at the outset of a crisis; and
Offering guidance on best practices for how legal counsel and communications advisors can work together effectively to avoid missteps.
An accompanying podcast features a discussion with Holmes and Bob Giuffra of Sullivan & Cromwell.
To read the chapter, click here. To listen to the podcast, click here.
Accreditation: An extract from the second edition of Latin Lawyer’s “The Guide to Corporate Crisis Management,” first published in November 2019. The full publication is available at https://latinlawyer.com/edition/1001437/the-guide-to-corporate-crisis-management-second-edition