Specialist advisory
Advisory and Special Situations
For problems that sit outside a conventional security posture. Something has happened, a decision needs intelligence behind it, or a situation has to be managed without becoming public. Valorous assesses, recommends and acts under one instruction, mandate by mandate, with a defined scope and a defined end. Judgement first. Then action. Always in confidence.
Most families will never ask for a security team. Almost all will need a problem handled.
Advisory and Special Situations exists for private clients, family offices and their advisers who face a problem that does not need a security posture. No existing relationship with Valorous is required. The mandate begins with a confidential conversation, is scoped in writing, and ends when the situation is stable.
Behind every mandate sits an intelligence function that runs every day: the daily threat picture, exposure assessments and due diligence. It is not assembled for the occasion. That is what allows us to reach a view quickly and to act on it with our own people and a vetted specialist network across Europe, the Gulf and North America.
The six mandates
What we take on.
Each has a typical trigger and a defined outcome. Many situations touch more than one.
Crisis management
An intrusion, a threat, an approach, an incident in progress. We take control of the response, secure people and property, deal with the authorities where appropriate, and keep advisers informed with facts.
Aftercare
The days and weeks after an incident. Review, the practical changes, support for staff and family, and quiet monitoring so that one event does not become a pattern.
Business and private intelligence
An investment, a partnership, an acquisition, a senior hire, a tenant or a new relationship. Due diligence on background, reputation, litigation, associations and conduct, with our assessment of what it means.
Exposure and reputation
Unwanted attention, online exposure, press or activist interest, an obsessive individual. A factual reading of exposure, footprint reduction, data broker removal, and handling of the attention.
Investigations
Loss, leak, theft, fraud or misconduct inside a household or private company. Discreet investigation to an evidential standard, so the family can act: dismissal, recovery, settlement or referral.
Problem solving
The situations without a name: a neighbour dispute that has turned, a former employee who will not let go, a family member in difficulty abroad. We assess, plan and act.
The difference
A conventional consultancy, or a Valorous mandate.
A conventional consultancy
- Scopes a review
- Assembles a team for the occasion
- Delivers a report and a list of recommendations
- Leaves the family to find someone to act on them
A Valorous mandate
- Assesses, recommends and acts under one instruction
- Draws on an intelligence function that runs every day
- Stays until the situation is stable
- Answers for what happened, not for what was advised
Accountable for the outcome, not the report.
How a mandate runs
Defined scope. Defined end.
Confidential conversation
With the director, under a mutual non-disclosure agreement from first contact. Same day for a live incident; within days for intelligence and advisory mandates.
Written view
What we think is happening, what we recommend, what it involves and the basis on which it is charged, before anything is done.
Scope
A defined scope and a defined end, agreed with the family or its adviser.
Action
Our own people and a vetted specialist network, with reporting in a form the family’s lawyers and advisers can use.
Close
The mandate ends when the situation is stable. Where a longer-term need is revealed, we say so; Security Management is available if the family wants it.
For advisers
The call that does not require your client to want security.
Lawyers see disputes, separations, successions and threats first. Wealth managers and private banks see transactions and new counterparties. Property and estate managers, house managers and concierge companies see incidents, staff changes and travel. Advisory and Special Situations gives each of them a reason to call Valorous that does not require their client to want a security team. The client keeps the relationship with you; we handle the questions you are asked.
When to talk to us
Signals that a situation needs handling.
- Anything that has just happened.
- A separation, succession or family dispute that has raised profile or tension.
- A transaction, an investment or a new counterparty.
- A concern about a member of staff, former staff or someone close to the family.
- A family member travelling to, or in difficulty in, an unfamiliar jurisdiction.
- Unexplained loss, a leak of private information, or something that does not feel right.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
Confidential by design
Speak with us in confidence.
If something has happened, a decision needs intelligence behind it, or a situation has to be handled without becoming public, speak with us. Every conversation is director-led and covered by a mutual non-disclosure agreement from first contact.