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Halden Rook Crisis and reputation counsel
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When it matters what you say next.

Halden Rook is an independent crisis and reputation counsel. Since 2003 we have advised boards, general counsel and chief executives in London, New York and wherever their difficulties take them, in the hours when what an organisation says will be remembered longer than what it does.

Holding statement

We are aware of reports circulating on social media and are urgently investigating the situation. At 06.40 today a fire started in the packing hall at our northern plant. All 46 people on shift are accounted for. We will publish an update at 10.00.

Draft 1, 06.58, and draft 4, 07.36. Deletions struck through; insertions underlined.
Founded in London. New York since 2011.
2003
People: 40 in London, 21 in New York.
61
Partners, one of whom leads every matter from the first call.
8
Median time for the duty partner to call back on the 24-hour line in 2025.
14 min
Matters opened in 2025, of which 41 began outside office hours.
388

01 What we do

Seven kinds of counsel, one team

Most of our work begins with a telephone call from a general counsel. It may end in a statement, a hearing, a board minute or, quite often, in a decision to say nothing at all.

  1. Crisis readiness

    Plans that fit on a page, exercises that hurt a little, and a board that has rehearsed its first hour before it needs to.

  2. Crisis response

    A partner on the telephone within a quarter of an hour, a team in the room by the afternoon, and every line written down.

  3. Regulatory and public affairs

    Consultations, inquiries, licensing decisions and appeals, and the correspondence with regulators that decides how they read everything else.

  4. Litigation communications

    Working beside a client’s lawyers on disputes and investigations, so that what is said in public never has to be explained in court.

  5. Issues anticipation and narrative risk

    Knowing which stories could be told about a client, and by whom, before anyone tells them. Run by the Desk, our research team.

  6. Board and executive counsel

    Private advice to chairs, chief executives and general counsel on leadership changes, governance disputes and their own position.

  7. Digital listening

    What is being said about a client online, how far it is travelling and who is carrying it, reported twice daily during a matter.

02 Selected work

Case studies

Published with our clients’ agreement, and without their names.

All case studies

03 Journal

Recent writing

The Journal

04 Sectors

Where we work most

Our clients rarely remember the statement. They remember the forty minutes before it, when somebody asked what was actually true.

Recognition Crisis and Issues Consultancy of the Year (independent), Reputation Counsel Awards, 14 May 2026. More

If you need us now

A partner is on duty in each office at all times. Leave a name and a number and the duty partner will call you back, usually within a quarter of an hour.