When a crisis hits, the first 24 hours set the course for everything that follows. Decisions made under pressure, often with incomplete information, can determine your legal exposure, whether privilege holds, how regulators view you and how your people and customers respond.
A strong crisis management plan means those decisions aren’t being made from scratch. The right people already know their roles, the authority to act is clear, and the legal guardrails are built in.
Work through this with your crisis management team, legal and risk leads. Tick items that are genuinely in place and tested, not just written down. Anything left unticked is a gap worth closing. Revisit your crisis management plan after every incident, and at least once a year.
