Amber Melville-Brown

Friday afternoons are often the busiest in the world of crisis management. It is not unusual for reporters to call the subjects of their articles at the eleventh hour before publication, and for the Sunday papers, this can mean leaving this until late on Friday. We gear up into crisis mode at very short notice to stop the papers printing private information about our clients. While each and every time is different, media management like this is 'bread and butter' for our team.

Hell hath no fury like a partner scorned and our top-ranked family team are no strangers to the troubles and strife that can happen at the end of married life. It is sadly the case that we often get involved when one half of the couple launches a campaign of harassment against their former partner, or where a spurned lover resorts to blackmail.

We are still actively pursuing phone hacking cases for our clients; naturally these remain highly confidential.

The summer of 2015 in the UK saw an out and out media attack on charities and their reputations, with a focus on ethics and transparency. Amber worked hand in hand with our leading charity team to protect the vital reputations of many of the country's biggest charities.

We worked with a high profile senior executive who found themselves unfairly smeared in a sex discrimination case. Our client was denied the opportunity to defend himself and his reputation after the claimant withdrew her case in its entirety after giving evidence. Press reports remained online impacting his personal and working life. We liaised with the various online and print publishers to fully explain the unfair particulars of the situation, and were able to negotiate a much fairer reporting of the proceedings. It was in the public interest to report this, but we ensured our client was not defamed in the process.

A charity client was subjected to a sustained campaign by a pressure group over a period of months. High profile members of the organisation were targeted to generate publicity in print and social media. Somewhat ironically, when the charity reasonably defended itself, the pressure group threatened defamation proceedings. We fought off this action and engaged urgently with the press to correct the incorrect allegations. We then worked with the charity post-publication on their media messaging and proactive communications strategy.

When our client married a media darling, the press was bound to want to catch a glimpse of her, her dress, the wedding.. but the couple wanted to keep the private, family affair, just that. So we talked to the media to reach a solution that we and them would be happy with - we sent some lovely authorised shots to those titles that were keen to work with us and then moved fast to remove images from the internet that were taken with long lenses and without authority.

As well as crisis we also develop proactive communications plans when things go well. When our clients become aware of increased media interest in their lives, it's often welcome and an exciting step, but it still should be managed and planned. We work with clients to make sure their stories are published accurately.