• Kramer Levin’s Crisis Management team provides strategic counsel in bet-the-company matters, helping clients mitigate risk, preserve their reputations, and protect their brands and businesses.

    Our lawyers have extensive experience in representing leading companies and their boards, special committees, officers and executives in crisis situations. We help our clients review and assess policies and procedures, guide them through internal investigations, and represent them in regulatory hearings; government investigations — including congressional investigations — enforcement actions; high-profile, high-risk civil and criminal litigation; and financial and operational restructurings. Our team offers clients decisive counsel, addressing legal, financial and reputational risks, and delivers seamless, coordinated, rapid responses during crises.

    Our cross-disciplinary team includes former senior federal prosecutors, public defenders, and members of our White Collar Defense and Government Investigations; Securities and Shareholder Litigation; Corporate; Bankruptcy and Restructuring; Employment Law; and Environmental, Social and Governance groups. We have successfully defended clients in diverse industries before the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and state attorneys general. With decades of experience, we possess insight into how best to position our clients for a successful outcome.

    Members of the Crisis Management team have advised clients in diverse industries and a wide variety of crisis situations. From accounting fraud, bribery, securities fraud and insider trading allegations to sexual harassment and whistleblower claims, cyberattacks and data breaches, and financial and operational distress, our team has successfully represented clients in courts, before regulators and in the press. In addition to representing our own clients, often we are called in by other law firms as independent counsel to advise boards of directors and C-suite officers of Fortune 500 companies when a crisis arises.

    Our services include handling:

    • Internal investigations and compliance reviews
    • Federal, state, and congressional civil and criminal inquiries, investigations, hearings and enforcement actions
    • Self-regulatory agency investigations, including those conducted by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the New York Stock Exchange and others
    • Criminal cases and civil litigation, including shareholder and derivative suits
    • Securities and corporate governance matters
    • Accounting, currency and other financial matters
    • Employment-related matters, including whistleblower claims before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and discrimination and harassment claims before federal, state and local agencies
    • Media, consumer, employee and stakeholder relations and communications
    • Financial and operational restructurings in response to crises that may affect the ongoing business, including governance advice and best practices

    We also offer proactive guidance, helping our clients anticipate and identify risks, establish crisis protocols, resolve problems swiftly, and avoid future incidents.