Dechert

Since its founding in 1875, Dechert has become a force in the global legal market. In the United States, the firm is known for its work in antitrust, financial services, life sciences, strategic transactions and private equity, litigation, white collar, product liability, real estate, and securities.

Business Savvy

The firm’s long history began with founders who served as U.S. ambassadors and law professors, historic clients such as The Pennsylvania Railroad, and mergers that were influenced by world wars. In the late 1990s, Dechert began reshaping its business model to become more specialized. The firm began focusing on private equity, intellectual property, and white-collar criminal defense. The firm also significantly expanded overseas beginning in the late 1990s and throughout the early 21st century by adding offices in multiple locations from France and Dubai to Germany and Singapore.

A Range of Expertise

Dechert attorneys handle cross-border work, contribute to a bustling corporate practice, and are known for their litigation savvy. They advise across multiple industries, including financial services, private equity, private credit, real estate, life sciences, and technology. 

Dechert has one of the world’s premier financial services practices. The firm advises all of the top 10 global asset managers in some capacity, drawing on both its far-reaching domestic and international presence and its practice leaders, who are considered some of the biggest players in the market.

The Dechert litigation team has more than 350 attorneys with extensive experience in a wide range of areas, including complex commercial litigation from product liability and appellate litigation to private equity industry litigation. Moreover, its highly regarded real estate lawyers approach their matters from a cross-practice standpoint, bringing in knowledge of construction, regulatory compliance, litigation, and environmental and tax laws to address client needs.

Dechert recently launched The Wharton Business Program for Dechert, a unique business program in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, to further develop its attorneys. Led by esteemed Wharton professors on the Philadelphia campus, the program is designed to deepen client relationships and anticipate risks by enhancing participating lawyers’ understanding of clients’ businesses through the exploration of key issues such as corporate finance, private equity, future global business trends, and business strategy—bringing these topics to life.

A Supportive Culture

Dechert has found a unique way of rewarding mentoring and teaching within the ranks through its Exceptional Teacher Awards program. All attorneys, business professionals, and practice groups are invited to nominate the individuals who have been the most proactive in training and developing the firm’s people. Nominations are reviewed by a formal committee of partners and associates, and recipients are awarded $10,000 plus a commemorative plaque. The firm offers similar awards for Diversity Champions and Innovators.

Support comes in many forms, and another way that the firm stands by its lawyers is through wellness initiatives. THRIVE@Dechert is a work-life and wellness program that offers resources for healthy living, including Meditation Mondays, which is a 30-minute program of guided meditation led by a certified meditation teacher, and Mental Health Advocates, who are employees trained to both recognize and support colleagues struggling with mental health issues.

• On May 18, 2026, Dechert’s antitrust team secured a high-profile jury trial victory for client Microsoft in the Musk v. Altman case. A nine-member jury unanimously found that OpenAI and its co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman were not liable for breaching a charitable trust or unjust enrichment in connection with OpenAI’s formation of a for-profit structure and concluded that the claims were barred by the statute of limitations. Following the advisory verdict, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers dismissed all claims, including Elon Musk's claim that Microsoft aided and abetted the alleged breach. 
• A pro bono team led by New York office Managing Partner Mauricio España pursued five-year litigation on behalf of four immigrant women who were subjected to labor trafficking in a debt-bondage scheme in the United States. The firm obtaineda rarely granted “Doe” motion allowing their clients to proceed under pseudonyms in federal court and won a key attachment motion preventing the defendant from offloading assets. 
• Successfully defended Prisma Labs, developer of photo-editing app Lensa AI, in one of the largest Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) class actions ever proposed, which sought to represent any Illinois resident who had ever had a photo of themselves uploaded to the Internet. The plaintiffs, seeking billions of dollars in damages, claimed Prisma scraped the Internet for photos to train its AI model, violating BIPA. 
• Advised Bank of America and Wells Fargo, as co-lead lenders, on the $3.5 billion refinancing of Manhattan's iconic Rockefeller Center through the largest commercial mortgage-backed securities loan on record for a single office property.

• A-List, 2026—The American Lawyer
• Finalist, Law Firm of the Year, Industry Awards, 2026—The American Lawyer
• Dechert Pro Bono Team: Litigation Team of the Year, 2026—Human Trafficking Legal Center 
• Top 20 Most Innovative Global Law Firms of the past 20 years—Financial Times
• Top 10 for both U.S. and international pro bono work for the 11th consecutive year on Pro Bono Scorecard, 2026—The American Lawyer