Crisis Management 2025

AUSTRALIA

Australia

Trends and Developments Contributed by: Peter Briggs, Christine Wong, Mark Smyth and Tom Dougherty Herbert Smith Freehills

Sydney

Tasmania

Herbert Smith Freehills is a leading global law firm, with more than 5,450 people (including 528 partners) in 23 offices across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the USA, advising many of the biggest and most ambi- tious organisations across all major regions of the globe. The firm has decades of experience helping major corporations and governments take control of all aspects of crises, including cybersecurity breaches, defamation and repu- tation management, ESG compliance, employ-

ee relations and human rights, as well as safe- ty, environmental, insurance and competition issues. In the event of a crisis, Herbert Smith Freehills draws on a deep pool of crisis man- agement experts with market-leading sector and regional expertise to assemble a bespoke team to be by the client’s side in those crucial first hours – all the way through to implement- ing recovery strategies and drawing on lessons learned to embed proactive and preventative measures to mitigate future risk.

Authors

Peter Briggs is a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, where he leads the firm’s Australian environment, planning and communities practice, and is an experienced litigator in

Christine Wong is a partner in Herbert Smith Freehills’ dispute resolution practice and has particular expertise supporting clients in responding to crises and investigations arising in

Australian courts. Peter has more than 30 years of experience advising corporate and government clients on matters that demand a creative, strategic and commercial approach – for example, climate adaptation, ESG risks, regulatory issues, and crisis management. He also advises clients on planning law, contamination, pollution, heritage, biodiversity issues, environmental incident response, regulatory investigations, and defending environmental prosecutions. Ranked in Band 1 by Chambers and Partners, Peter is consistently recognised in leading legal

cyber/data breach, white-collar crime and whistle-blower contexts. She has broad experience in helping clients across a range of sectors resolve significant commercial disputes, investigations, and enforcement proceedings.

directories as one of Australia’s top environment and planning lawyers.

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