Why you will never see your name on this website.

I want to explain something about the way we work, because it affects you directly and because most firms in our field do the opposite.

We do not name our clients. Not on this website, not in a pitch, not in a conversation with someone else who is considering us. We have responded to incidents for FTSE 100 companies, global financial institutions and private family offices, and you will not find one of them named anywhere in our marketing.

I know what that costs us. Logos sell. When a board is choosing who to call at the worst moment of their year, a wall of familiar names is reassuring, and we have chosen to give that up.

We give it up because the alternative is worse. If we would trade another client’s name for a new piece of business, you would be right to assume that one day we would trade yours. The proof that we will keep your incident quiet is that we have kept everyone else’s quiet, including the ones we would most like to boast about.

So here is what I am committing to, personally.

• I will not publish your name or your logo. Not on our website, not in proposals, not in presentations, not on social media.
• I will not write your incident up as a named case study. We publish anonymised accounts so that others can learn from them, with no identifying detail and nothing published without your written agreement.
• This starts from your first call, not from a signed NDA. We are glad to sign one and usually will, but you do not have to wait for it before speaking to us frankly.
• I will not offer you as a reference unless you have told me you are willing. We are sometimes asked for references, and it is a fair thing for a prospective client to want. When it happens I only ever put forward past clients who have already volunteered to support us. I will not ring a former client and ask them to vouch for us.
• My silence does not expire. It survives the end of the engagement, the end of the contract, and the end of the relationship. There is no point in the future at which your incident becomes our marketing material.
• Everyone I bring in is bound by the same terms. Our lawyers, negotiators, publicists, investigators and technical specialists. Confidentiality does not weaken as the team around your incident grows.

A few practical points, so that this is more than a sentiment.

• Case material is held on a need to know basis. Not everyone here can see every engagement.
• Evidence and case data are kept only while we have a lawful or contractual reason to hold them, and are then securely destroyed.
• If we are ever legally compelled to disclose, by a court, a regulator or law enforcement, I will tell you before we do so wherever the law allows it.

If you are reading this because something has already gone wrong, please call us. The fact that you called is confidential from the moment you do, whether or not you go on to engage us, and whether or not anything has been signed.

Ask me who we have worked with. I will not tell you and that is why you can trust us with your problems too.