Agency ProfileReputation Management

LEVICK: Washington Crisis PR Firm History and Leidar USA

LEVICK was a Washington litigation and crisis PR firm founded in 1998 by Richard Levick; it closed in April 2023 and its entire staff joined Leidar USA.

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Specialty

Reputation Management

Profiled

Jun 15, 2018

Desk

EPR Editorial Team

Firm summary

LEVICK was a Washington litigation and crisis PR firm founded in 1998 by Richard Levick; it closed as an independent firm in April 2023 and its entire staff joined Leidar USA. It built its name where lawsuits, regulation and public opinion collide, advising companies, law firms, governments and executives. Leidar USA, part of Geneva-based Leidar, continues the crisis, litigation and reputation work and is now led in the US by Meghan Tisinger.

Originally published June 2018. Updated October 17, 2026.

Who founded LEVICK?

Richard S. Levick, an attorney, founded the firm in 1998 and led it as chairman and CEO for 25 years. He died on April 11, 2023, at age 65, from cancer, O'Dwyer's reported. The firm's PR Newswire statement called him the father of modern reputation management. See EPR's profile of Richard Levick.

What happened to LEVICK after 2023?

LEVICK closed as an independent firm at the end of April 2023, and its team joined Leidar, a Geneva-based PR and advisory firm, in new Leidar USA offices in Washington and New York, O'Dwyer's reported in May 2023. Leidar founder Rolf Olsen said it had been Levick's wish that his team continue at Leidar, and the two firms had partnered internationally for nearly a decade.

Leidar USA's initial leaders were John Lovallo in New York, Max Marcucci in Washington and Phil Armstrong in public affairs. In March 2025 O'Dwyer's reported that Meghan Tisinger, who began at LEVICK in 2006, was named head of Leidar's US operations.

What did LEVICK do?

The firm's practice covered litigation communications, crisis and regulatory response, reputation defense and public affairs. It handled matters such as the 2000 Florida election recount and the Catholic Church's abuse scandals, according to O'Dwyer's, and in 2019 China Telecom Americas retained it for public affairs work, per a company profile.