David Kelley Joins Dechert as Partner, Practice Group Chair
NEW YORK - Dechert LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, David N. Kelley, has joined the firm in New York as a partner. Kelley was most recently a partner and member of the Executive Committee at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, which he joined in 2005.
Kelley will also assume the role of co-chair of the firm’s White Collar and Securities Litigation group with David Kistenbroker.
“David Kelley is a superb litigator with great judgment and extensive trial and investigative experience,” said Andrew J. Levander, Chair of Dechert’s Policy Committee. “He is a great addition to the firm and brings significant leadership skills to the group.”
Kelley joins a strong stable of litigators with significant white collar and government experience. In addition to Kelley and Levander, Robert J. Jossen, Hector Gonzalez, Jonathan R. Streeter, Michael J. Gilbert and Jeffrey A. Brown served earlier in their careers with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Edward A. McDonald was the Attorney-In-Charge of the Federal Organized Crime Strike force in the Eastern District of New York, while Frederick Herold and Thomas Lee were Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The firm also benefited in recent years by the arrival of veteran litigator Michael Barta as well as Vincent Cohen, former acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and Joseph A. Fazioli, an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California.
Kelley is ranked by Chambers USA 2016 and Chambers Global 2016 for his FCPA work and by Chambers USA 2016 for New York: Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations. Chambers calls him a "brilliant enforcement lawyer" and notes his ability to "cut through the issues, find the crux of the matter, provide a succinct analytical summary of it and help devise remedial action plans." Legal 500 USA 2016 ranked him as Recommended and called out his work as the independent monitor of Toyota’s compliance with safety efforts as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ).
He is also noted for his work on behalf of the Wal-Mart Audit Committee during extensive Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the DOJ FCPA and compliance investigations as well as his representation of HSBC during extended investigations by multiple agencies, including the DOJ and OFAC and OCC. Kelley has represented companies in a variety of industries including financial services, automotive, energy, healthcare, travel and leisure, retail and responsible sourcing.
“I’m quite pleased to join such a vibrant and impressive group of attorneys, many of whom I worked with in the past during my years at the Southern District of New York,” Kelley said. “This is a quality team and I think my clients will benefit from my joining Dechert and its international platform.”
A graduate of the College of William and Mary (B.A., 1981) and New York Law School (J.D., 1986), he clerked for the Honorable T.F. Gilroy Daly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
About Dechert
Dechert is a global specialist law firm focused on sectors with the greatest complexities and highest regulatory demands. We deliver practical commercial insight and judgment to our clients’ most important matters. Nothing stands in the way of giving clients the best of the firm’s entrepreneurial energy and seamless collaboration in a way that is distinctively Dechert.
