New York

WHEN South African track star Oscar Pistorius stood trial for the brutal killing of his girlfriend, he hired Bell Pottinger, an aggressive British public relations firm, to try to smooth his tattered reputation. President Bashar Assad of Syria and his wife turned to the firm for help in recasting their image. So did Alexander G Lukashenko, the former dictator of Belarus.

In the fraught world of image makeovers, Bell Pottinger stood out for venturing where others feared to go. It courted embattled governments, controversial clients and powerful people who ran afoul of public opinion. Along the way, it reaped hefty fees and became one of Britain's most influential public relations firms.