Dechert LLP's trial, investigations and securities practice has a large group of experienced partners across the US, whose work encompasses securities class actions, shareholder derivative suits, mutual fund litigation, broker-dealer disputes, internal investigations and regulatory proceedings. Joni Jacobsen leads the practice and works out of both the Chicago and New York offices, as does key partner David Kistenbroker. Their work together includes acting for Exelon Corporation to negotiate a $40m settlement in a case alleging bribery, breach of fiduciary duty, and other misconduct. They also secured the dismissal of a class action against Antares Pharma. Michael Doluisio in Philadelphia is highly recommended as an adviser to the mutual fund sector. Angela Liu in Chicago frequently works alongside Jacobsen and Kistebroker, while New York-based Andrew Levander is a key contact for regulatory investigations. Corporate governance litigation partner Richard Horvath and securities and antitrust partner Josh Hess are the key names in San Francisco. Linda Goldstein left to become senior counsel for US litigation at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Joshua Hess is excellent.'
Key clients
- Special Litigation Committee appointed by the Board of Directors of Exelon Corporation
- Turtle Beach Corporation / VTB Holdings, Inc. / Stripes Group / Kenneth Fox / Juergen Stark
- Icahn Enterprises L.P., Icahn Enterprises G.P. Inc., Carl C. Icahn, David Willetts, Ted Papapostolou, Keith Cozza, Sunghwan Cho, Denise Barton, Alvin Krongard, Brett Icahn, Stephen Mongillo, Michael Nevin, Aris Kekedjian, Nancy Dunlap
- Antares Pharma Inc. and certain officers
- Former CFO Greg Rush of Syneos Health
- Cencora, Inc. (formerly known as AmerisourceBergen Corp.)
- Charles Schwab & Co. (“Schwab”)
- PureCycle Technologies, Inc. and certain officers
- CorMedix Inc. and certain current and former officers and directors
- Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC
- Interactive Brokers LLC
- Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Harvest Capital Credit Corporation
- Bradley Weston and Todd Vogensen, the former CEO and CFO of Party City
- Laurel Krzeminski (former CFO of Granite Construction)
- Leslie Moonves, former Chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation
- Tidjane Thiam
- 14 Current or Former Directors of American Electric Power (“AEP”)
- Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc.
- Forge Global, Inc.
- Versa Capital Management, LLC and Domus BWW Funding LLC
Work highlights
- Exelon Corporation formed a Special Litigation Committee (SLC) to investigate allegations of bribery and fiduciary duty breaches related to a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) that its subsidiary, Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd), entered into. After the investigation, The firm, as the SLC's independent counsel, negotiated a proposed settlement involving extensive corporate therapeutics and a $40 million monetary component, which is currently awaiting preliminary approval.
- Secured a directed verdict in a case dating back to 2013, where plaintiffs sought over $10 million in damages over an equity expropriation claim related to a merger between Turtle Beach and Parametric Sound Corporation. The court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to establish the elements of their claim, leading to an appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, where the firm argued that the plaintiffs' arguments were foreclosed by a previous ruling and that the district court's fees order was an erroneous application of NRCP 68.
- Representing Icahn Enterprises L.P., its general partner, and its directors and officers in two lawsuits brought by IEP unitholders in the Southern District of Florida. The first, a federal securities litigation class action, alleges that the defendants violated federal securities laws by making false statements about IEP's net asset value and the use of proceeds from at-the-market unit offerings. The second, a derivative action, alleges that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties by not disclosing that IEP was inflating its net assets and using at-the-market proceeds for quarterly distributions.
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Joni Jacobsen