Dechert LLP > London, England > Firm Profile

‘Dechert LLP has been and remains my favorite practice by far. They provide best in class service. I particularly benefitted from their global presence and smooth integration across practices. I’ve actively recommended Dechert LLP to colleagues in the industry over the years and will continue doing so.’

‘I could not recommend Abigail Bell more highly on both a professional and a personal level. Her expertise, including across jurisdictions, is outstanding, her advice always sound, she is generous with her time and has handheld us across each investment transaction and vehicle set up over the past couple of years, including regarding coordinating with her colleagues across the world and pulling in the relevant expertise from across her time.’

‘Knowledge, professionalism, approachable, dependable, trust and expertise across sectors, functions and geography’

‘The core strength of Dechert is detailed attention to a client’s issues. When questions arise that require expertise across technical legal areas Dechert can deliver the entire firm, promptly, without unnecessary clutter.’

‘Craig Borthwick is outstanding at guiding a fund launch. He is the best man in London to have in your corner for the big day.’

‘Abigail Bell is outstanding both in her knowledge and expertise and making herself available for us. Her commercial knowledge of the hedge fund industry, Funds and Co-investments, as well as new areas such as Blockchain is outstanding. She makes herself available to us when needed and keeps us abreast of legal and regulatory changes/ developments. She ensures that we speak to the right counterparties to ensure projects work.’

‘Friendly, listen to the clients, aim to understand and solve problems in the most effective manner for all. Nice people to work with.’

‘Dechert’s hedge fund team has a robust service offering at all levels of seniority, from paralegals to partners. Together they provide a rounded and mostly seamless service. In particular I am appreciative of the attention to detail, commerciality and friendly manner (specifically when interfacing with our business and our board members) which they bring to bear on project work.’

‘In depth experience over many years in the private equity and investment fund space. As a consequence having and developing a sound knowledge of partnership structures has been essential. I also think that the interrelation between partnership law, taxation, long term incentive schemes and employment law requires a team of suitably experienced people who work well together and frequently on client projects. Dechert have this in good measure. Also, they are very commercial and don’t tend to be too legalistic!’

‘Jason Butwick is an experienced contentious employment partner but has also developed a strong practice in partnership law and LTIPs in the asset management sector. He is an excellent client partner, very commercial and focused on finding a solution.’

‘Gus Black is an excellent partner focused on private equity and institutional asset management. Again, very commercial and pragmatic.’

‘The key items which distinguish Decherts are its skill at bringing the correct professionals in an a project at the right point for overall efficiency.’

‘Tremendous knowledge of partnerships within the asset management sector.’

‘Jason Butwick – outstanding legal knowledge in the sector, combined with tremendous application of the law to the commercial realities. He is a very astute reader of the personality mixes which define a partnership, and how to move legal relationships alongside the ebb and flow of those relationships.’

‘Dechert have a very specialised expert team with real knowledge and experience in the Hedge Fund and Private Equity sector. Great corporate understanding and a strong set of corporate and employment experts to provide back up.’

‘Jason Butwick is a stand out expert in the hedge fund and private equity arena. He has vast experience, commands confidence and know the area inside out. Very good to work with and highly commercial.’

‘Deep understanding of the complexities of our business and ability to focus on the key issues.’

‘Always an excellent service from Jason Butwick, highly recommended.’

‘A great team that is at the forefront of innovation.’

‘Dechert always provides with the professional answers and work.’

‘The firm shows extended knowledge of capital markets and provides timely and competent advice with a view to client’s needs and intentions.’

‘ We value highly our work with partner Jennifer Rees.’

‘The team from Dechert has been at the forefront of all capital market issuances from Oman in the recent years. Having worked with a number of magic circle and top tier firms, I can safely say that Dechert is one of, if not THE, best of the lot. They have in-depth knowledge of the clients and the market in the Middle East (especially Oman) and have therefore been the international counsel of choice for clients looking to undertake DCM transactions.’

‘The team, led by Patrick Lyons, and supported by Amy Rees, is extremely diligent, professional and hardworking. They anticipate potential problems and address matters before they actually develop into issues.’

‘Excellent combination of legal expertise and practical advice. Really listening to what the client wants and needs. Providing options and suggesting different approaches to reflect the client’s business intentions and address the client’s concerns.’

‘Great, user-friendly document management – clearly distinguishing between internal and external comments, wording suggestions, explanations etc., which makes it easy to forward marked-up documents to the counter-party with minimal effort.’

‘Karen Stretch is dedicated and excellent to work with. Apart from her legal expertise and practical advice, she is very responsive and meets even tight deadlines without compromising on the quality of their work.’

‘The attention to detail is second to none. Organisation and turnaround time have been fantastic. For Dechert to hold the list of outstanding items and the chair the newly introduced weekly catch up video call was invaluable.’

‘Very competent team who understand the legal framework regarding all our trading activities. Helped with new prime broker onboarding. New trading structures created that were new to the team here and they dealt with the legal paperwork easily.’

‘Dechert serves as external counsel to a mutual client. I work with Karen Stretch at Dechert on ISDA Schedules and Credit Support Annexes for fund-level currency hedging. Deep expertise in the ISDA documentation is niche and highly valuable in our world of over-the-counter trading and risk management.’

‘We continue to receive a very reliable service from Dechert’s derivatives team, they have expertise in hedge fund products and continue to be a trusted advisor to the business generally.’

‘We have been using Dechert’s derivatives team for over four years now, they are approachable, knowledgeable and pragmatic. Their strong working knowledge of our hedge funds and UCITS range has been particularly helpful when launching new products, and they have been on hand to advise on any ad hoc queries we have raised.’

‘Aparna Sehgal has a great eye for detail and is brilliant at helping to steer large and often challenging groups of parties towards agreement on the legal documentation.’

‘Elizabeth Le Vay is knowledgeable and reliable, and with Aparna, they make a very formidable team.’ 

‘Aparna and her team are a highly capable pair of hands that can be fully relied upon and trusted.’

‘Aparna Sehgal’s team at Dechert is very hands-on and commercial. She’s a very experienced lawyer, especially on complex asset-backed financings.’ 

‘Aparna Sehgal is a very proactive team player.’

‘Aparna Sehgal is very client focused and always works hard to ensure deadlines and expectations are met. She picks up issues quickly and distributes them across the relevant teams at Dechert very well.’

‘This team is incredibly driven and efficient. They provide a complete and cohesive service for any investigator carrying out an investigation. Their technical data management and digital abilities are second to none.’

‘Richard Frase (partner) has an unparalleled knowledge and deep understanding of the intricacies of financial legislation and regulation. He can always be relied upon for a thoughtful and correct identification and analysis of the relevant statutory provisions.’

‘Karen Stretch has an impressive mastery of the topics she covers and presents convincingly.’

‘It just works, makes detangling some thorny complex queries easier and their collaboration with colleagues in other practice areas and jurisdictions makes for a smooth experience for us as a client.’

‘Dechert are our relationship firm for financial regulatory work. Over the past year, they have advised across a variety of different matters. Some of those were routine, others linked to regulatory changes.’

‘Richard Frase is an extremely knowledgeable and hard-working lawyer. He is an incredibly impressive individual.’

‘Truly partner-led with top calibre associates. There’s very little attrition and the growth of team has been organic – a good sign of stable, long-term success.’

‘A highly experienced team that is able to advise/guide clients across the spectrum of private investment funds challenges. The team, led by Gus Black, is accessible and responsive which assists us in getting to the bottom of complex matters and being able to understand and consider relevant solutions/alternatives.’

‘The team has a market leading position in private funds. It has impressive breadth of expertise across different asset classes, with considerable depth to its bench.’

‘The head of the funds group actively leads the work and is very hands on at all stages, giving the client the comfort that an experienced pair of eyes has either been responsible for drafting/advising or has reviewed the work before another team member sends it out. ‘

‘Christopher Gardner, Claire Bentley and Samuel Hachez have all been excellent on a recent fund launch.’

‘Main point of contact is Gus Black who we have found to be highly experienced and able to provide practical solutions to both legal and commercial elements we encounter when establishing and/or operating an investment fund.’

‘We worked with Marianna Tothova, thanks to her double exposure to the UK and Lux markets, she is able to manage expectations of English clients and the requirements of the Luxembourg regulator.’

‘Thiha Tun’s commercial acumen and structuring expertise is second to none. We are the business we are all thanks to him. ‘

‘Highly client oriented. Pro-active raising deal opportunities and once the deal started a full service offering making legal DD and also legal documentation hassle-free for the investment professionals.’

‘Highly personal and know what is needed internally at every step. Very warm, welcoming and also calm when things get hectic. Highly knowledgeable when it comes to market standards and negotiating legal points’

‘Chris Field is excellent – he is extremely knowledgeable and skilled in navigating the UK Takeover Code. He is also technically brilliant and his friendly demeanor makes him a joy to work with.’

‘The team is very commercial, efficient and helpful. They drive transactions forward in a way that stands out from their competitors. I feel I can leave them to run a process and trust them to elevate important issues.’

‘Mark Evans is a great lawyer with an ability to cut through to the important issues. He has a stand out ability to get very complex deals done in a very efficient and commercial way and great knowledge of many sectors. I would highly recommend him. Jamal Tuhin is a great operator and one to watch.’

‘The team is technically strong but also very practical in their approach.’

‘The firm provides top-quality restructuring and insolvency expertise on both UK and cross-border situations.’

‘Solomon Noh is a hard working partner with superior skills and excellent client management.’

‘Solomon Noh in particular, is considered one of the leading practitioners and brings a unique skillset in the London market with his US restructuring background.’

‘Adam Plainer – In my opinion one of the best restructuring lawyers in London. He is totally committed to getting the right result for his client and available at all times.’

‘The hardworking and committed Kay Morley is technically strong, very practical and commercial in her approach.’

‘Dechert’s firmwide expertise with the asset management industry and fund structures was a plus when selecting tax experts for our particular needs.’

‘Mark Stapleton is a consummate professional with a wide network of tax experts in jurisdictions across the EU.’

‘Team has appropriate industry and sector experience. Also able to deal with practical commercial elements/challenges.’

‘Mark Stapleton is main contact for us in the corporate tax practice. Mark is always readily available and accessible. Additionally, he is able to direct us to specific tax subject matters experts as necessary.’

‘This team is exceptionally good at describing complex tax issues in an engaging and client friendly way. They deal with issues commercially.’

‘Mark Stapleton leads a broad team of tax specialists to give hands-on and applied advice. Stellar responsiveness and quality of thinking. Highly recommend.’

‘Mark Stapleton is a stand-out tax partner in the private funds space.’

‘Mark Stapleton and Dan Hawthorne are both technically gifted and very personable. They also believe in very quick response times, which is crucial in dealing with clients.’

‘A real high-quality team. Very bright and hard working without the ego that sometimes accompanies this quality.’

‘Chris Field is a real corporate law specialist. An excellent intellect.’

‘Sam Whittaker is a great addition to the team. Super bright and hardworking, and a pleasure to work with.’

‘Always available, highly responsive, and fast in highly demanding cases. Fully committed – they brought on resources to accommodate increasing requirements, with complex expertise.’