Conal Walsh

Conal Walsh is a pre-eminent crisis communications adviser with more than 15 years' experience in advising clients facing moments of actual or potential reputational difficulty. In that time he has advised a wide variety of clients on some of the highest-stakes issues of the era, deploying an evolved playbook that aims not just to help clients weather challenging episodes but also, where necessary, to establish the platform for longer-term recovery and improvement. Notable assignments have included:

* News Corporation, in respect of the phone-hacking affair

* Airbus, with regard to much-reported international law-enforcement investigations

* FTSE executive facing regulatory investigation

* An oil major during and after a major industrial accident

* An international banking group, during civil and criminal matters arising from alleged governance failures

* UK companies targeted in national campaign over alleged environmental breaches

Conal Walsh founded Palatine in 2019. The firm is a boutique with widely-acknowledged strength in contentious matters, covering contested capital markets situations, litigation and arbitration support, insolvencies and issues-based campaigning as well as crisis management. The firm is an experienced team unencumbered by legacy costs and offering consistent access to senior counsel.

Previously, Conal spent 10 years at a major financial PR firm, where he was partner and head of special situations. Earlier in his career he was a journalist, principally at the Guardian and the Observer newspapers, where he reported from the courts and was business investigations editor, among other roles. MBA-qualified, he has also worked as a management consultant.

Oxford University

BA, MA

SOAS

MA

INSEAD

MBA

Commended in Investigations category

British Press Awards

Commended in Young Financial Journalist of the Year

Harold Wincott Awards