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Crisis Room · Praesidium
Crisis Room · Praesidium
Some situations do not allow for the ordinary timescales of a law firm. An arrest linked to an INTERPOL notice, a sudden asset freeze, notification of an extradition request, implication in a transnational investigation: the first hours often determine the range of options available.
The Crisis Room · Praesidium is the firm's immediate-response mechanism: it mobilises, as a matter of urgency, the full range of the firm's strategic, legal and institutional resources under a defined protocol.
Praesidium
In Roman law, the forward line of protection. What the firm mobilises is not merely a legal response: it is a perimeter of strategic protection, established in the first hours.
Triggering situations
Nine situations that demand immediate instruction
01 · INTERPOL
Arrest or alert linked to a red notice
Immediate intervention: request for interim measures and application to the CCF.
Arrest at a border crossing, detention on the basis of an INTERPOL diffusion, notification of a red notice by the local authorities.
02 · Sanctions
Sudden asset freeze or banking block
Immediate intervention: mapping of the risk perimeter, emergency challenge options, licence applications, banking remediation strategy and requests for rectification addressed to compliance providers.
OFAC or European designation, accounts blocked by a correspondent bank, refused transactions, listing or continued listing in a private compliance database, debanking, unexplained de-risking.
03 · Extradition
Extradition request or European arrest warrant
Immediate defence architecture, with interim measures before the European Court of Human Rights (Rule 39) where necessary.
Formal extradition request, execution of a European arrest warrant (Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA), request for provisional arrest.
04 · Lawfare
Coordinated attritional proceedings
Mapping of the forces at play and a multi-forum counter-strategy.
Simultaneous proceedings opened in several jurisdictions, signs of a coordinated judicial campaign, abusive protective measures, organised reputational pressure.
05 · Investigations
Implication in a transnational investigation
Immediate coordination of the response, selection and governance of local counsel, strategy for responding to international mutual legal assistance requests.
Searches, summonses, seizure of assets in the course of a multi-jurisdictional investigation.
06 · Sovereign
Threat to sovereign assets or persons of sovereign status
Immediate intervention: reliance on the law of immunities, the applicable customary principles and, where relevant, the 2004 United Nations Convention; private legal diplomacy; diplomatic protection.
Attempted seizure of sovereign assets, proceedings against a former Head of State or minister, pressure on a diplomatic representative.
07 · International protection
Expulsion, refoulement or withdrawal of protection
Immediate intervention: coordination with domestic remedies, requests for interim measures, referral to the competent international mechanisms and stabilisation of protection status.
Refusal of asylum, withdrawal of a residence permit, entry ban, removal order, risk of transfer to a State where the person faces torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance or an unfair trial.
08 · Arbitrary detention & risk to life
Arrest, disappearance, torture or incommunicado detention
Immediate intervention: activation of urgent UN and regional procedures, communications to Special Rapporteurs, requests for interim measures, diplomatic coordination and evidentiary documentation.
Political arrest, detention without effective access to a lawyer, risk of torture or ill-treatment, enforced disappearance, denial of medical care, solitary confinement, imminent transfer or absence of effective judicial safeguards.
09 · Armed conflicts & exposed companies
Operations in a conflict zone, occupied territory or sanctioned environment
Immediate intervention: IHL / human rights / sanctions mapping, securing of governance decisions, coordination with local counsel, withdrawal, continuation or remediation strategy, evidentiary documentation and reputational management.
Continuation, suspension or withdrawal of operations in an armed conflict zone; dealings with an exposed public or private entity; risk of complicity; secondary sanctions; duty of vigilance; pressure from NGOs, investors, the media or supervisory authorities; exposure of executives and governing bodies.
Protocol
Three phases of emergency intervention
A defined sequence, from first contact to the consolidated strategic plan. No irreversible decision before the first exchange.
H+0
First contact and characterisation. The matter is taken up as soon as possible after first contact. Identification of the situation, the pressing time limits, the forums involved, the immediate risks and any protective measures that may be available. A first oral exchange conducted directly by the founder or under his supervision.
Before this first exchange, no irreversible decision should be taken without appropriate advice: public statements, travel, transactions, responses to the authorities or communications to banks.
H+24
Emergency legal architecture. Subject to the information available, the documents provided and the procedural constraints, the first twenty-four hours are devoted to putting in place the emergency legal architecture: mobilisation and governance of local counsel where necessary, preparation of the first written submissions, identification of the competent bodies, activation of an institutional or diplomatic channel where the situation so warrants.
Where conditions allow, the first protective measures are prepared or filed.
D+3
Consolidated strategic plan. In the days following instruction, the firm consolidates a complete strategic plan: short-, medium- and long-term options, multi-jurisdictional coordination, management of the institutional and information environment, alignment with local counsel and an estimate of the financial architecture of the intervention.
The engagement letter then formalises the precise scope of the intervention.
Emergency intervention is intended to preserve the options available and to organise the strategic response. It does not prejudge the admissibility of any remedies, their outcome or the decisions of the competent authorities. The H+0 / H+24 / D+3 milestones are operational reference points, not commitments as to timing.
Contact
Present your situation, according to your profile
Four points of entry, depending on who you are. First contact is examined as a priority, in French, English or Spanish.
Exposed individual
You are personally targeted
INTERPOL red notice, arrest at a border, extradition request, asset freeze, summons or investigation in which you are implicated.
Set out the situation: the firm assesses the urgency and the immediate options.
Emergency contact
Business · Executive · Investor
Your organisation or its executives are exposed
Sanctions, debanking, transnational investigation, search, operations in a conflict zone or sanctioned environment, proceedings against governing bodies.
Securing decisions and the strategic response.
Emergency contact
Family · Relative · Support committee
You are acting for a loved one in danger
Arbitrary detention, political arrest, disappearance, risk of torture, imminent transfer or refoulement.
Activation of emergency procedures and coordination, in confidence.
Emergency contact
Lawyer · Correspondent firm
You are referring an urgent matter
You are advising a client facing a critical transnational situation and are seeking immediate strategic support or co-counsel.
Coordinated intervention, respecting your client relationship.
Counsel-to-counsel contact
States & sovereign institutions
States, State entities and international organisations facing a threat to sovereign assets, proceedings against a representative, an immunity dispute or a diplomatic crisis. The firm acts on the dimensions of public international law, immunities and diplomatic protection.
An emergency? Contact us now.
First contact is examined as a priority. Set out the situation briefly. The firm assesses the matter and responds as quickly as possible, in French, English or Spanish. A confidential initial orientation discussion, without mutual commitment. Secure channels on request.