We’re excited to share some of the most compelling work we have undertaken for clients across six key sectors.”
Sabina Comis
Dechert by Numbers
Sector HIGHLIGHTS AND 2024 OUTLOOK
Noteworthy Matters
Dechert advised an ad hoc group of secured and unsecured bondholders of Brazilian airline GOL in its US$1.6 billion combined liability management and new capital financing transaction. This represents one of the largest completed transactions of its kind in the airline industry and the emerging markets. The financing also marks Dechert’s third major aviation industry matter in recent years, bolstering the firm's strong record of advising on financial restructurings in emerging markets. Members of the Dechert team were also recently involved in the award-winning Chapter 11 cases of LATAM Airlines and Avianca.
OUR RECOGNITION
Pro Bono
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Innovation and AI
The Beirut port explosion was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, resulting in over 200 deaths and 6,000 injuries. Lawyers from Dechert’s London office represented the Beirut Bar Association and several victims in proceedings against Savaro, the UK chemicals company that delivered the explosive material. Dechert lawyers argued that Savaro was liable for the death, injury, loss and damage caused to the victims as it had imported the explosive ammonium nitrate and failed to take any action to secure or properly store or dispose of it.
Standing With Victims of Beirut Port Explosion
Dechert achieved a landmark victory in February 2023, with Savaro held liable for the death, injury and property damage caused by the explosion. This was the first time anyone, in any jurisdiction, had been formally held liable for the blast and represented an unprecedented development for those affected by the tragedy. The Beirut Bar Association President hailed the ruling as a significant achievement in the pursuit of truth and responsibility.
A subsequent damages assessment hearing was held in the High Court in London on June 12, 2023. The court awarded each claimant related to a deceased victim £100,000 plus interest for pain and suffering. A surviving victim was awarded £125,000 for pain and suffering and over £400,000 for past and future medical expenses.
Our commitment to fostering an environment that values diversity, equity and inclusion is at the forefront of how we build and support our community at Dechert. We provide our people with the opportunities they need to nurture their development as they support our clients with the highest-quality services.
This year, our Global Women’s Initiative reconnected for the ninth annual Sponsorship and Sustained Support Program. The program provides senior women associates, counsel and national partners an opportunity to network with other senior female colleagues from across the globe. The program also offers workshops tailored to skill level and provides support from, and exposure to, senior female Dechert role models.
The 2023 Sponsorship and Sustained Support program was aligned with the firm’s International Women’s Day event, which focused on the theme, ‘Resilient and Ready’. This theme served to inspire our colleagues to adapt to challenges and change – ever important in the dynamic and evolving business environment.
Sponsorship and Sustained Support Program for Women Lawyers
Vincent Cohen
We are answering our clients’ most challenging questions, developing deal structures new to the market and protecting their interests in difficult situations.”
David Forti
We help clients see around corners, and succeed in today’s increasingly competitive environment.”
Mark Thierfelder
We hope you find the stories inspiring and that you join us in entering 2024 with great optimism.”
The firm launched its first tool in January, merely nine days after Microsoft made the relevant capabilities available. This tool was able to assist with the drafting of investment strategies and risk disclosure for mutual funds based on a fund name only.
In the subsequent months, we reviewed the potential of AI to affect legal work and business processes. We also had numerous conversations with attorneys and personnel from our Office of General Counsel, privacy and data teams on this topic to ensure that any solution we built was secure and met applicable ethics and client requirements.
We continued to build and assess generative AI solutions, launching 14 different tools during 2023, to assist personnel with reviewing and summarizing documents, analyzing large datasets and updating documents based on precedent datasets, among other things.
2023: The Year of Generative AI
Dechert is a global law firm that advises asset managers, financial institutions and corporations on issues critical to managing their business and their capital – from high-stakes litigation to complex transactions and regulatory matters. We answer questions that seem unsolvable, develop deal structures that are new to the market and protect clients’ rights in extreme situations. Our 1,000+ lawyers across 21 offices globally focus on the financial services, private equity, private credit, real estate, life sciences and technology sectors.
Pro Bono
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Innovation and AI
Dechert advised KKR in connection with more than 22 individual financing transactions totaling over US$11 billion, including asset-based facilities, rated notes issuances, repurchase transactions and other innovative structures.
AIG's sale of its US$3.6 billion assets under management CLO business to an affiliate of Blackstone Inc. made Blackstone the world's largest CLO manager. Dechert advised AIG in this transformative deal, one of the most high-profile asset management transactions of 2023. This deal is a prime example of driving convergence in the asset management sector, as financial services companies of all kinds diversify amid a fast-changing ecosystem.
Dechert secured victory for Zillow, the most-visited real estate listings website in the U.S., in a high-stakes federal lawsuit. The case was brought by REX-Real Estate Exchange, alleging anticompetitive and deceptive behavior relating to Zillow’s display of online real estate listings. Prior to trial, Dechert secured a complete dismissal of REX’s antitrust claims on summary judgment. Then, following a two-week trial, the jury rejected REX’s remaining claims, clearing Zillow of all allegations and negating REX’s claims for over US$400 million in damages.
Dechert represented funds affiliated with Cerberus Capital Management, the largest shareholder in retail grocer Albertsons, in relation to Albertsons' definitive agreement to merge with Kroger, another retail grocer. Dechert's private equity/M&A lawyers collaborated closely with antitrust colleagues to devise novel solutions designed to enable Albertsons and Kroger to enter their definitive purchase agreement and respond structurally to regulatory challenges. The transaction is pending regulatory clearance.
Message From Leadership
Innovative Lawyers
Financial Times 2023: Recognized among the Most Innovative Law Firms in North America, Europe and Asia
Recognized among the ‘100 Best Companies’ – Seramount 2023 (Formerly Working Mother)
Forward-Thinking and Inclusive
National Law Journal 2023: Awarded for the second consecutive year
ESG and Community Impact Leader
Ranked across 48 capabilities in Chambers Global 2023
Top-Ranked Law Firm
Only law firm ranked ‘Elite’ in all categories – Chambers Associate 2023
‘Elite’ for Associate Satisfaction
Kids in Need of Defense is an organization helping children with immigration issues, including family reunification applications, that is assisted by Dechert lawyers across the globe.
One example is our work in Ireland where the majority of children who made their way there left families in countries impacted by conflict – many from Sudan and Afghanistan. Each child’s story and personal circumstance is different.
In autumn 2023, after two years of work, our first client obtained a positive decision from the Department of Justice allowing her parents and three siblings to join her in Ireland under the family reunification framework for unaccompanied refugee minors. This is the first decision the team has received, with an additional 15 applications in progress and more good news hopefully to follow.
Dechert is also a signatory to the Global Refugee Forum Legal Community Pledge, continuing its decades-long commitment to representing individual clients in immigration matters, as well as working to effect systemic change.
Reuniting vulnerable children with their families
Housing Choice Vouchers are supposed to enable low-income renters to participate in the private housing market. However, in many cities, including Philadelphia, renters who use these vouchers often face widespread discrimination and some landlords simply refuse to consider them as prospective tenants.
Partnering with the Public Interest Law Center, a Dechert team represented the Housing Equality Center of Pennsylvania in an investigation into Pro-Managed, one of Philadelphia’s largest landlords. The investigation found that Pro-Managed had been refusing to accept vouchers in predominantly white neighborhoods while advertising their acceptance in majority Black neighborhoods.
The team challenged these practices, at state level and federal level, and succeeded in reaching a settlement under which Pro-Managed agreed to change its practices. Pro-Managed also submitted to a consent order requiring the organization to advertise that it accepts and encourages the use of Housing Choice Vouchers.
One of the mainstays of Dechert’s pro bono program is our focus on housing – working to keep families in safe and affordable homes. The work, which spans multiple offices, includes representing tenants in cases involving eviction and housing conditions, as well as ensuring that landlords do not discriminate on the basis of source of income. This commitment to housing justice helps maintain community stability and protects vulnerable populations from homelessness and unsafe environments.
For many years, thousands of New York City residents have experienced severe delays in receiving subsistence-level public benefits, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and Cash Assistance from New York City agencies.
The pandemic not only exacerbated these delays, but also led to a significant increase in applications for benefits, affecting existing and first-time applicants. These failures created a dire situation for New York City residents who cannot afford to go weeks or months without food or money.
Reducing Delays in Low-Income Benefits
A Dechert team filed a petition to the U.N. Working Group last year on behalf of Saba Kord Afshari and Raheleh Ahmadi, Iranian women’s rights activists who were being detained by the Iranian government. Lawyers argued that the women were wrongfully detained.
Saba Kord Afshari's sentence was reduced from 24 to five years in April 2022, and she was released in February 2023. Her mother, Raheleh Ahmadi, was released in October 2022. In May 2023, the Working Group ruled that their detentions violated international human rights law, a crucial step towards repealing both convictions and preventing further harassment for exercising their fundamental rights.
Our longstanding partnership with Freedom Now, an organization that represents prisoners of conscience, continued with 100+ Dechert lawyers contributing over 2100 hours in 2023. Each year, we identify potential clients and liaise with local counsel and the families of prisoners, typically submitting a petition to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Our lawyers leverage the resources of an international law firm, whether that’s attorneys, language capabilities or contacts, to help free our clients.
Long-Term Commitment to Freeing Prisoners of Conscience
Pro bono accolades
Top 10 for U.S. and international pro bono
– TrustLaw Awards 2023
– Legal Aid Society of New York Pro Bono Publico Awards 2023
– Financial Times 2023
We have set out a roadmap initiative that includes a variety of programming to ensure that our diverse associates feel supported, are able to hone key skills for their development and have multiple opportunities to connect with one another and firm leadership.
Bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives leads to innovative approaches and solutions. Our Diverse Associates’ Symposium is one of the ways we enable these important discussions to take place.
Fostering the Development of Diverse Associates
Dechert launched a partner Diversity Information Card to increase transparency and monitor the use and staffing processes for all diverse and non-diverse U.S. associates. The Diversity Information Card also provides data by gender on a firmwide basis. The goal of this initiative is to provide partners with real time data on how their matters are staffed and to remind partners of the importance of being intentional and equitable when selecting their teams.
To increase transparency, goal-setting and follow-through, Dechert designed and launched a Diversity Dashboard that helps firm leaders see where things are working effectively, and where more attention is needed, with leadership proactively reviewing associate hours, work quality and assignments.
Transparency and Accountability
Diversity Dashboards
Partner Diversity Information Card
Our 11 affinity groups help to build community and foster an inclusive culture at Dechert. They support the development and retention of diverse lawyers, while educating Dechert colleagues, fostering an understanding of different cultures.
To encourage community engagement, our affinity groups host a variety of guest speakers to celebrate cultural heritage months and facilitate important conversations. In 2023, these included a performance by Mapy, the ‘Violin Queen,’ for U.S. Black History Month and a presentation by Sarah Warbelow, Legal Director for the Human Rights Campaign, for Pride Month.
As these events continue to create an environment where understanding and inclusion are at the heart of our culture, we know that these experiences will also be reflected in our delivery of the highest level of client service.
Culture, Heritage and Awareness
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Accolades
here
We embraced robotic process automation (RPA), launching over 25 different solutions to assist with legal matters and business processes. Our innovation team was involved in over 350 projects on client matters in 2023, yielding tangible benefits for our clients.
Our use of AI and RPA has been particularly beneficial in handling large volumes of documents and data. For instance, automation tools were used over 800 times to update or generate more than 40,000 documents, resulting in significant cost and time savings for clients. Similarly, RPA was used to process and analyze over 10,000 documents across several litigation projects and to assist with routine tasks on transactional client teams.
We are always looking to be responsive to client needs, with some encouraging the use of AI tools for efficiency and others preferring a more cautious approach. We accommodated these preferences by adjusting access to generative AI tools for various teams.
Embracing AI and Robotic Process Automation
This has been a year of exponential growth when it comes to wider innovation at Dechert. Highlights include:
Over 300 partners, counsel and associates from all practice groups have participated in specially designed futurecasting, brainstorming and idea implementation sessions. These sessions are aimed at reflecting on the main disruptive trends affecting the legal industry and generating innovative ideas for the firm, its practice groups and its people to be better prepared for what the uncertain future will bring and effect organizational change when it is needed.
We trained 140 lawyers and business services professionals on design thinking methodologies in 2023. These techniques are aimed at strengthening people’s skills to creatively overcome challenges and effect positive organizational change. In addition to our flagship Innovation Certificate Program, we are also introducing a new crash course called Dechert Innovation Foundations, which all personnel will be required to partake in as of 2024.
Innovating to Better Serve Our Clients
Innovation Training
Futurecasting Sessions
A significant achievement in the pursuit of truth and responsibility.
Each child’s story and personal circumstance is different.
A commitment to housing justice helps maintain community stability.
Public benefits go to the heart of our most essential human needs. We are proud to work with The Legal Aid Society and NYLAG to protect these needs.
Each matter requires a unique blend of experience, skills, creativity and judgment.
Our Culture
Our diverse associates roadmap showcases our commitment to fostering an inclusive and diverse environment.
Transparency and accountability allow firm leadership to monitor and track the utilization of underrepresented populations.
The events hosted by our affinity groups foster an environment where understanding and inclusion are at the heart of our culture.
Dechert’s Global Women’s Initiative
In an effort to address this situation, a Dechert team partnered with the Legal Aid Society and New York Legal Assistance Group to represent New York City residents suffering from these delays. The team filed a class action lawsuit against the City of New York, alleging that the city was failing to meet the processing deadlines mandated by federal and state law. On July 30, the court issued a preliminary injunction requiring the city to come into full compliance and eliminate the backlog of applications.
Although more must be done to ensure residents receive the benefits they are entitled to, the court’s order is an important step.
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2023
Year in Review
Top 10
'Best Law Firms to Work For' in Vault
50%
Represent over 50 percent of publicly traded and private BDCs
105K+
Total pro bono hours in 2023
9 of 10
Global asset managers worldwide are clients
350+
Life sciences companies and investors are clients
700+
Private fund and fund management group clients
Learn more
Technology
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Real Estate
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Private Equity
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Private Credit
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Life Sciences
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FINANCIAL SERVICES
Generative AI is revolutionizing business strategies, reshaping financial markets and prompting global regulatory shifts. Businesses are adapting to the opportunities and challenges presented by this fast-moving trend. Find out more about the impact of the continued dominance of disruptive technologies.
Technology
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Asset-based finance vehicles, such as commercial real estate (CRE) collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), have shown resilience despite challenges within the real estate sector. The industry is adapting to economic pressure, with new financial structures and products. Read more to understand these trends and their implications for the future of the CRE market.
Real Estate
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A year of rising interest rates and slower growth has proved challenging for the private equity industry. Yet, despite a decline in fundraising and dealmaking coupled with debt becoming costlier and scarcer, successful PE firms are finding a way. Learn what dealmakers need to know as they harvest their holdings and kickstart capital raising to sustain their investment cycles into 2024.
Private Equity
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Private credit managers are adapting fund structures and investment terms as institutional investors seek more customized risk and return profiles and managers seek to tap the retail investor market. Find out more about the fund structuring trends shaping the industry.
Private Credit
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The life sciences industry has been subject to significant shifts, from a changing transactional market to landmark legal rulings and regulatory changes. Read more to learn about key developments and their implications for the future of life sciences.
Life Sciences
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While regulators are balancing opportunities for retail investors with protection measures, fintech and ESG factors are driving change within the financial services sector. Read more about these insights and stay ahead of the curve in the financial services sector.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
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– The American Lawyer Pro Bono Rankings 2023
"International Law Firm of the Year"
"Public Service Law Firm Award"
“Innovation in access to justice and civil rights” in North America
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– Seramount 2023 (Formerly Working Mother)
Recognized among the ‘100 Best Companies’
– Human Rights Campaign 2023
‘Leader in LGBTQ+ Workplace Inclusion’
– Profiles in Diversity Journal 2023
‘Innovations in Diversity’
‘International Firm of the Year for Diverse Women Lawyers’
– Euromoney European Women in Business Law Awards 2023
Dechert represented Centerbridge in the establishment of a strategic relationship with Wells Fargo & Company focused on direct lending to non-sponsor North American middle market companies. To meet the alternative credit needs of this segment, Centerbridge launched Overland Advisors to manage a newly formed business development company that will be primarily focused on making senior secured loans. Overland represents a transformative new business model for direct lending to middle-market companies, diversifying the market of clients served by private credit and direct lending.
Dechert advised Energy Harbor Corp. in its proposed acquisition by Vistra Corp., pursuant to which Energy Harbor will merge with and into a newly formed subsidiary of Vistra. The transaction will combine Energy Harbor's nuclear and retail businesses with Vistra's nuclear and retail businesses and Vistra Zero renewables and storage projects under a newly formed subsidiary holding company, referred to generally as "Vistra Vision."
Fighting for Housing Rights Across the U.S.
92%
U.S. Dechert respondents say 'This is a great place to work.'
40+
Years of experience with permanent capital vehicles
50+
CLO managers work with Dechert, more than any other law firm
We also provide our diverse associates with a platform to learn from firm leadership, through panel and breakout sessions focusing on themes that include the power of deconstructing feedback to unlock your full potential. This roadmap initiative is part of our commitment to fostering an inclusive and diverse environment that values and supports every associate’s unique contribution.
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and 2024 Outlook
Golub Capital, a direct lender and private credit asset manager, instructed Dechert to help structure its 69th collateralized loan obligation (CLO). Valued at US$1.3 billion, the transaction is the largest CLO closed in 2023. Dechert’s success builds on the firm’s experience in the formation and operation of CLO platforms, along with related regulatory compliance issues. Dechert has established itself as a pioneer in CLOs, leveraged loan warehouse facilities and asset-backed securities transactions.
Dechert achieved unanimous affirmance from the D.C. Circuit of the dismissal of an antitrust case filed by the Federal Trade Commission against pharmaceutical manufacturer Endo Pharmaceuticals. The D.C. Circuit’s ruling is particularly significant in an antitrust enforcement environment that has become increasingly hostile to, and suspicious of, the exercise of patent rights. In affirming dismissal of the FTC’s case, the appellate panel confirmed the boundary between antitrust enforcement and the legitimate exercise of patent rights.
Dechert represented Plum, PBC in the first-ever baby food heavy metals personal injury case. This was a multi-defendant case. Plaintiff, N.C., sued Plum and six other companies in 2021 following a report linking commercial baby foods with “high” levels of lead, arsenic, and mercury, potentially harmful to children’s developing brains. Plaintiff alleged his autism and ADHD resulted from consuming defendants’ baby foods. On August 24 and 31, 2023, the court granted defendants’ motions to exclude plaintiff’s specific causation experts and defendants’ motion for summary judgment based on lack of company-specific causation testimony, resulting in termination of case before trial.
Dechert successfully represented the Roche group before the Paris Court of Appeal in its appeal of the French Competition Authority’s decision that led to record fine totaling €444 million. The French Competition Authority had imposed fines on several entities of the Roche and Novartis groups for alleged abuse of a collective dominant position in the French market for the treatment of wet AMD, an eye disease. The verdict fully exonerated Roche and is rare in its decisive rejection of the French Competition Authority’s judgment.
2023
and 2024 Outlook
Year in Review
Message From Leadership
We hope you find the stories inspiring and that you join us in entering 2024 with great optimism.”
We help clients see around corners, and succeed in today’s increasingly competitive environment.”
We are answering our clients’ most challenging questions, developing deal structures new to the market and protecting their interests in difficult situations.”
We’re excited to share some of the most compelling work we have undertaken for clients across six key sectors.”
Dechert by Numbers
40+
Years of experience with permanent capital vehicles
9 of 10
Global asset managers worldwide are clients
50+
CLO managers work with Dechert, more than any other law firm
92%
U.S. Dechert respondents say 'This is a great place to work.'
Top 10
'Best Law Firms to Work For' in Vault
105K+
Total pro bono hours in 2023
50%
Represent over 50% of publicly traded and private BDCs
350+
Life sciences companies and investors are clients
700+
Private fund and fund management group clients
