Dechert LLP

Corporate

Counsel

Gottfried Graf von Bassewitz is an experienced corporate lawyer specializing in complex corporate transactions, corporate governance, compliance advice, risk management, and discrete multi-jurisdictional government investigations. He has counselled leading financial investors, corporates and management teams on a broad range of M&A, private equity, financing and distressed investments—in both domestic and cross-border deals, regulatory matters, investigations, and reorganizations.

Graf Bassewitz’s practice spans a wide variety of industries, including aerospace & defense, consumer goods, energy, financial services, healthcare and pharma, hospitality, real estate, tech and telecommunications.

His expertise includes anti-bribery and anti-money laundering as well as financial misconduct investigations with a particular focus on their corporate, transactional and compliance aspects. These matters regularly involve strategic engagement with enforcement agencies and other stakeholders in multiple jurisdictions. Graf Bassewitz was a key member of the Airbus legal team that secured a landmark deferred prosecution agreement—the first coordinated settlement between the UK, U.S. and French prosecuting authorities. These and other complex corporate and commercial matters—particularly in high‑risk or distressed contexts—often call for strategic and judicious action on compliance, harm minimization and value recovery.

Graf Bassewitz is a recipient of the Samuel E. Klein pro bono award for his contributions to the working group remediating the Windrush compensation scheme due to the wrongful treatment and deportation of British citizens of Caribbean heritage by the UK Home Office.

English, German