From West Philadelphia, born and raised…
Like the Fresh Prince himself, Dechert is from West Philly, dating back to the 1930s in the City of Brotherly Love. And, like Will Smith, it has launched itself to global superstardom and now has 12 offices in the USA, two in Asia (Hong Kong and Beijing) and seven in Europe (Paris, Brussels, Luxembourg, Munich, Moscow, London and, most recently, Dublin).
The “flagship” departments in the UK outpost are financial services and corporate – to the extent that students without “at least a passing interest” in these areas would be strongly advised to look elsewhere. Trainees spoke of plans to grow the finance department further and steer corporate into winning more private equity work post-credit-crunch. Meanwhile, two litigation partners have arrived from DLA Piper. As one source commented: “These new partners are specialists in white-collar and securities litigation, which is a real growth area in the law generally.” The trainee intake, however, remains relatively small and won’t increase significantly in the near future. “The London office is notably buzzing at the moment,” said head of graduate recruitment Andrew Hearn, which is thanks to “established practice areas becoming much busier as the market picks up.” Dechert’s global revenue did slip 9% in 2010, but profits per partner rose slightly.
Despite the corporate/finance focus, our sources emphasised the flexibility provided by the well-established six-seat training contract. Many returned to seats they wanted to qualify in towards the end of their two years, some moved from a financial services seat to a secondment with a fund manager, and some spent their entire second year in a single seat. This last scenario, “if they are successful in getting a job, will give a seamless transition from being a trainee to being an associate.” Aside from the likely stints in corporate and financial services (FS), trainees can spend four months in finance and real estate (FRE), litigation, employment, tax and IP/business. Competition is offered as a seat in the firm’s Brussels office, which visiting trainees “rave about.” A financial services seat in Dublin is on the way, while secondments to a fund manager client and to the Royal Courts of Justice are also available.
In finance is where we spend most of our days…
Financial services is a vast and profitable department, taking in work from across the pond but not merely playing a supporting role for the US. The ‘services’ provided by the department are complicated, to say the least, and you’d be forgiven for being a little put-off by the technical terms flying around. Basically, financial services clients are investment managers of things like hedge funds. The department deals with the launches of funds across various jurisdictions, and then ongoing issues to do with them. Trainees assured us that no one expects you to be an expert when you first join the department. “It’s high-profile and high-value work, but it’s very much managed from the top down. We have long-term clients, so there’s little a trainee can do in the space of four months with them.” Overall, FS is known for being “good for letting you work with lots of different people,” and being document heavy, with lots of “fund-based drafting: drafting a letter to investors, taking down board minutes, and document management.”
Although still more complex than the plot of an average Will Smith movie, the work in the corporate department is at least more accessible than that going on in FS. Dechert has recently advised on corporate and competition aspects of PepsiCo’s acquisition of two-thirds of Moscow-based dairy products retailer Wimm-Bill-Dann and on the sale of fashion giant Liberty to BlueGem for $71m. Trainees receive a mix of private equity and M&A work, “depending on who they’re sitting with,” typical tasks again including the drafting of board minutes and other documents, alongside some research.
FRE is popular for its “friendly and approachable” team and the nature of the work – with fewer urgent deadlines, “there’s more time to bed yourself in.” Trainees can get pretty involved, “talking to clients, attending meetings and getting the responsibility of running your own case.” Clients include Waitrose, Merlin Entertainments and Middlesbrough Borough Council. One trainee worked on transfers, “which is where one company sells a commercial building to another company” – for example, Dechert recently advised Marks & Spencer on the acquisition of several stores. Another trainee worked on a “dispute regarding a tenant installing a telephone mast on the roof. We acted for the landlord, and had to liaise with surveyors and our colleagues in litigation.”
Speaking of which, for all our talk of transaction departments, Dechert’s litigation team is Chambers-ranked alongside firms like Berwin Leighton Paisner, Olswang and SNR Denton, and has been busy on a number of interesting matters this year. The firm is representing Michael Cherney against Russian oligarch and aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska in a dispute over shares in RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium company. It’s a massive matter that’s been widely reported in the press– do look it up. Trainees characteristically work on small pieces of litigation through their four months in the seat. One source spoke of a more unusual experience on an international arbitration matter: “I worked on one big case, which had a much tighter timescale than most. I was utilised dramatically in terms of presenting the statement of case, helping our lawyers draft documents and preparing bundles for sending to the tribunal. Clients would contact me directly, and if the partner wanted a specific point of something for document drafting, would come to me for the background.”
Many companies have downsized in the recession and this has meant the employment team has seen an increase in the number of tribunal cases it is taking on. Sources spoke of diving in with meaty work on these contentious matters, “drafting documents, amending expert reports, drafting witness statements, and being taken along to meetings and to interview witnesses.” The “intrinsically interesting” non-contentious work in the department can include “drafting employee handbooks and compromise agreements for employers.” Unlike on the cross-Atlantic deals of corporate and FS, trainees can work on “key” documents. Household name clients include Saga and The Independent.
Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool…
“I like the fact that there’s about ten of us. I also like the fact that I know pretty much everyone in the firm now,” said one trainee. Most trainees were attracted to the firm’s small intake and relaxed culture. “Something I picked up on during my vac scheme,” offered one, “is that it’s more community-driven. There’s significant partner contact, a horizontal management scheme, not leaders shouting at juniors.” This office was originally City mid-sizer Titmuss Sainer (it merged with Dechert in 2000), and it seems some departments have retained more of an old-school Geoffrey-the-Butler feel than others. FRE, for example, is a seat where newbies might “hear stories about the old days.” Corporate and litigation are being boosted with more American associates, although sources described Dechert US as “a mid-Atlantic rather than a classic New York firm.” Trainees enjoy slightly lower salaries than peers at US competitors, (£40,000 for first-seaters and £45,000 for second-years), but pointed to the lack of an “aggressive long-hours culture.”
Trainees socialise informally, but rather than shooting some b-ball outside of the school, the traditional British sports of cricket, football and netball are the most popular pastimes here. The mixed softball team is a bit of an enigma – “in our first match we were beaten 20-1, but in our second we won 30-1. I’m not sure what happened,” revealed one trainee, still in shock.
“There’s no doubt that in the past the retention rate has been poor.” In fact, since we started keeping records in 2002, Dechert had never managed to keep on more than 66% of its qualifying trainees – a pretty dismal showing. The good news is that the firm has actively sought to remedy this and in 2011 retained eight of its nine second years.
And finally...
A final but vital tip: it’s pronounced ‘deck-urt’, not ‘de-shirt’.