New Year’s Resolution Number 1:

Prepare a Crisis Management Plan

“Operating a company without a Crisis Management Plan is like playing Russian

roulette with an automatic weapon. There is no chance of pulling the trigger on an
empty chamber.”

Harvard Business Review

If your company’s success, in any way, depends on public perception, you must
have an effective, up to date, crisis management plan. If you haven’t needed one, count
yourself as lucky….and due!

Crises are situations that threaten the integrity, reputation, and ultimately, the
viability of a company. Management’s worst nightmare, crises can strike at any time or
place and adversely impact any company, large or small.

Today’s technological advances have not only added to a well-established list of

possible crises, they have also increased the speed at which a crisis, or news of a crisis, is
spread. Viral videos, well read bloggers with malevolent intentions, and unsubstantiated
web attacks, are all reported in real time to an audience that is sometimes too large to
estimate.

Developing an effective crisis management strategy is not an optional activity for

a corporation -- it is at the heart of good corporate governance. Today’s best practices
demands that companies develop, implement, and rehearse a comprehensive, company-
specific, crisis management plan. In the event of a crisis, such a plan will allow the
company to assess its exposure, limit personal injury and property damage,
communicate effectively with the media and its primary constituencies, preserve its
good name, and resume normal business operations as quickly as possible.

The Looper Reed & McGraw Crisis Management team is dedicated to not only
preparing your company for the worst, but helping you avoid the worst. It all begins
with the preparation of a Crisis Management Plan which is specifically designed for your
business. A Crisis Management Plan developed by Looper Reed & McGraw will include
three sections.

Section One. The foundation of a Looper Reed & McGraw plan is a

vulnerability audit which addresses possible crisis and provides suggestions for
avoidance.

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 Section Two. Once a crisis has occurred, our plan will detail the proper
communication strategy to contain the crisis, communicate with the appropriate
stakeholders, the media, and the general public. We firmly believe that whether an
organization survives a crisis with its reputation, operations, and financial condition
intact is determined less by the severity of the crisis than by the timeliness and
effectiveness of their response.

Section Three. A monitoring and recovery plan is provided to help the

business get back on solid ground with their image, their reputation, and place them in
the best possible situation for any impending litigation that may ensue following the
crisis.

This multi-dimensional approach is a direct result of our wide-ranging

substantive experience in complex civil litigation, internet law, public relations, media-
legal issues, and corporate governance. We want our clients to realize the vital
importance of viewing a crisis from a range of disciplines, including litigation, public
relations, and public policy.

Many companies become converts to crisis planning only after they have been
shaken to their corporate core. Don’t be guilty of becoming a statistic in that category. If
your company does not have a real, hands-on Crisis Management Plan, let us work with
you in identifying with the immortal words of Winston Churchill, “Nothing in life is so
exhilarating as to be shot at without result.”

Joel C. Thompson
Looper Reed & McGraw
1300 Post Oak Blvd., Ste 2000
Houston, TX 77056
713-986-7000
www.lrmlaw.com

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