A former associate lost her whistleblowing claim. Her case still opened a crisis firm’s files on journalists.
An employment tribunal found that Halden Rook unfairly dismissed an associate who had raised concerns about its “narrative risk” work. It also recorded that the firm keeps files on named journalists and critics, compiled from what they publish.
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LONDON — On Tuesday an employment tribunal gave judgment in a claim brought by a former associate of Halden Rook, the crisis and reputation firm with offices in London and New York. She won part of her case. The tribunal found that she had been unfairly dismissed in 2024 because the firm had not followed its own procedure, and awarded her compensation.
She lost the part that drew her to the tribunal in the first place. The tribunal dismissed her claim that she was dismissed for making protected disclosures about the firm’s narrative risk work: the files it keeps, for its clients, on the people most likely to write or speak about them.
Halden Rook does not hide that work. A note on its website from 2023 tells boards to ask who is most likely to tell each story that could be told about them, and what those people have written before. Its monitoring team, which it calls the Desk, has existed since 2015. After a document it wrote for a client was leaked last year, the firm said the Desk’s files would be reviewed every six months and closed with the matters they support.
What the judgment adds is a description, from the firm’s own evidence, of what the files contain. They are compiled on named journalists, researchers and campaigners, and record what each person covers and has published. The judgment records that the files were compiled from published material, in line with the firm’s rules.
In a statement, Margaret Halden, the firm’s senior partner, said it accepted the finding on procedure and was sorry it had not followed its own process. She noted the tribunal’s record that the files were compiled from published material, and said the firm would not comment further.
The Overseen asked Halden Rook last year whether it keeps a file on any of our reporters. It did not answer. We asked again this week. It did not answer.
The former associate, who now works outside the industry, declined to be interviewed. Her lawyer said she was considering an appeal.