Reputation Management
Crisis Management for Families and Family Offices
Crisis management is the coordinated response to an event that combines security, legal and reputational dimensions, an incident that the family and their advisers must handle together, at speed, without contradicting each other. Valorous delivers crisis management for principals, families and family offices, 24 hours a day, with an integrated response covering protective action, legal coordination and communications. Our work is structured against ISO 22320 principles, coordinated with the family's solicitor, and delivered under a named director from the first call.
What counts as a crisis
- A security incident, an intrusion, an approach, a threat, a kidnap or attempted kidnap, a serious harassment case.
- A legal incident, an arrest, a proceeding served, an injunction sought, an emergency that requires legal action.
- A media incident, a story running or about to run, a persistent press approach, a viral piece of content, a deepfake or synthetic-media event.
- A family incident, a bereavement, a serious medical event, a family dispute, a next-generation crisis.
- A commercial incident, a business event that spills into the family's public exposure (a regulatory action, a corporate crisis, a public disagreement with a counterparty).
- A compound crisis, an event with several dimensions running at once, which is the most common shape crises actually take.
Why one team matters
A crisis fails when the family's advisers act separately. The solicitor takes a legal position that undercuts the communications position. The PR firm briefs in a way that limits the legal options. The security team acts protectively but visibly, drawing further press attention. The family office issues a statement the family had not seen.
The answer is one integrated team under a named director. That is what Valorous crisis management delivers, a single point of coordination across the family's protective, legal and communications response, so every action is consistent with every other.
What Valorous does in a crisis
- Take the call, a named director on the 24/7 crisis line, first response inside a defined SLA.
- Establish the picture, what has happened, what is known, what is unknown, what is likely.
- Convene the response, the family's solicitor, the family office, any existing PR retainer, and Valorous's own protective and intelligence teams.
- Set the strategy, what the family will do, what they will say, what they will not say, and what triggers what next.
- Execute, protective action, legal engagement, communications, and where relevant, coordination with police, medical or other authorities.
- Hold the incident, through the acute phase and into the follow-through, with daily director-level updates.
- Debrief and remediate, a written post-incident report with recommendations for how to reduce the chance of recurrence.
The 24/7 line
Every Valorous crisis management retainer includes a 24/7 crisis line direct to a named director. Response inside a defined SLA, typically fifteen minutes for acknowledgement, one hour for a scoped initial response. The line is a real number to a real person, not a switchboard.
How Valorous delivers crisis management
Crisis management is delivered as a retainer for principals whose profile warrants ongoing access, and as an incident response for principals who need it when it happens. Retainers include the 24/7 line, a pre-agreed incident-response protocol, a defined set of pre-authorised actions, and quarterly desk exercises with the family and their advisers. Incident-only mandates are scoped and priced at the point of the incident.
Our commercial model is transparent, director time at named rates, operator time at cost, fixed retainer for the 24/7 access.
Standards & credentials.
- ISO 22320 as a reference framework for crisis management structure.
- Named-director accountability on every crisis, from first call.
- Defined SLA, acknowledgement in fifteen minutes; scoped response inside one hour.
- Coordinated with client counsel as a default.
- UK GDPR / DPA 2018 compliance for any personal data processed during the response.
- Chain of custody on any evidence gathered during the incident.
Frequently asked questions.
Speak with us in confidence.
If you want a crisis management retainer in place before an incident, or if you are facing an incident now, we will speak with you today. Every enquiry is handled directly by a Valorous director and covered by a mutual non-disclosure agreement from first contact.