Vice President / Associate Director, Crisis & Risk

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Edelman is a voice synonymous with trust, helping businesses and organisations evolve, promote and protect their brands and reputations. We are the world’s leading independent communications firm, with more than 6,000 people in over 60 offices globally. Our independence and family ownership give us the freedom to invest in original thinking, long-term client relationships and work that helps organisations earn the lasting trust of their stakeholders.

Edelman’s London Crisis & Risk team is the global Centre of Excellence for Edelman’s crisis communications capability and sits at the heart of our international crisis network. We counsel leading global corporations, brands and institutions through reputational challenges that matter. Our work spans live incidents and longer-burn issues, including litigation, regulatory scrutiny, cyber incidents, digital disinformation, executive transitions, corporate governance crises, societal issues, workplace misconduct, campaign controversies and geopolitical events.

The role involves occasional out of hours work during live issues and fast-moving situations.

• Provide calm, clear and well-informed litigation communications and legal affairs counsel to clients facing complex reputational challenges.
• Advise clients and internal teams on communications strategy around active or potential litigation, regulatory scrutiny, investigations, disputes and other legally sensitive matters.
• Develop high-quality client materials, including risk assessments, stakeholder maps, legal and reputational scenario planning, communications strategies, messaging, Q&As, reactive lines, holding statements, briefing materials and escalation protocols.
• Work closely with lawyers, in-house legal teams, senior executives and communications leaders to ensure communications support legal strategy without allowing legal caution to create reputational exposure.
• Support and lead day-to-day client relationships across a varied portfolio of Crisis & Risk accounts.
• Provide strategic counsel across the full stakeholder environment, including media, regulators, policymakers, employees, investors, customers, campaigners and digital communities.
• Help clients prepare for hearings, judgments, regulatory decisions, inquiries, announcements and other moments where legal and reputational pressure may intensify.
• Contribute to live crisis response, including rapid counsel, issues assessment, messaging and coordination across teams and markets.
• Manage client work to a high standard, ensuring strong project management, clear roles, deadline discipline and quality control across account teams.
• Support account financial management, including forecasting, budgeting, hours allocation and managing servicing levels.
• Identify opportunities to grow existing client relationships through smart counsel, proactive risk identification and relevant specialist support.
• Contribute to new business, including proposals, pitch materials, credentials, case studies and specialist litigation communications offers.
• Help build Edelman’s litigation communications capability in the UK by developing strong internal knowledge, practical tools and relationships with relevant legal and advisory partners.

• Strong experience in litigation communications, legal affairs, crisis communications, corporate reputation, public affairs, journalism, law or a related field.
• A track record of advising clients or senior stakeholders on legally sensitive, high-pressure or high-profile issues.
• Strong understanding of how litigation, regulatory scrutiny and public reputation interact.
• Excellent judgement, including the ability to balance legal risk, reputational risk, stakeholder expectations and commercial realities.
• Confident client counsel skills, with the maturity to advise senior communications leaders, legal teams and executives under pressure.
• Excellent writing ability, with strong attention to detail and the ability to produce clear, disciplined materials at pace.
• Strong project and account management skills, including the ability to manage deadlines, teams, budgets and client expectations.
• An interest in current affairs, business, law, politics, media and emerging reputational risks.
• A collaborative style, with the confidence to work independently and the discipline to coordinate well across teams.
• Experience working with law firms, barristers, in-house legal teams, regulatory specialists or disputes advisers would be helpful.
• Legal training or a legal qualification is welcome but not essential.

You will be a trusted adviser to clients and teams on litigation communications and legal affairs. You will help clients make better decisions under pressure, produce work that stands up to legal and reputational scrutiny, and strengthen Edelman’s position as a leading adviser on complex disputes, investigations and crises.