• Consolidation in the asset management industry has led to increased mergers and acquisitions. This, in turn, has increased the exposure of market participants to the type of deal litigation that has marked M&A activity in the public-company space. Our team has successfully navigated litigation involving alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, appraisals, and other challenges to deals in numerous jurisdictions, including Delaware, California, and New York, to get the deal done and protect clients from monetary exposure. Our specialized knowledge of the asset-management industry provides us with a decided advantage in crafting strategies to defeat deal-based litigation against funds, their trustees, and their managers. For example, Dechert recently obtained a complete trial victory for a BDC acquirer – even where the Chancery Court found flaws in the target’s process – that prevented the court from enjoining the deal.

  • Oversight of corporate boards and audit committees continues to be an important issue, and we handle internal investigations on behalf of companies and their boards of directors relating to violations of regulatory requirements , as well as disclosure issues, whistleblower matters, money laundering, insider transactions, financial statement irregularities, regulatory filings, market timing and insider trading issues. Our experience in negotiating and working with state, national and international enforcement authorities is exceptional. 

  • Hedge fund litigation is an integral part of our practice. We represent hedge funds and their directors and officers in a wide range of litigation and enforcement matters. These include government investigations and actions brought by the DOJ, SEC, FINRA and state attorneys general, as well as complex commercial and class action litigation in federal and state courts.

  • We have litigated or resolved disputes for some of the largest financial institutions and investment firms in the world arising from the sale, use and performance of a wide spectrum of derivative products. We have extensive experience in claims involving a range of contractual, tort and statutory liability theories, including class claims alleging market manipulation under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and claims challenging valuations, risk disclosures and collateral descriptions.

    Our litigators work closely with our commodities and derivatives lawyers — themselves leaders in the creation and regulation of derivative products encompassing all commodities and asset classes — to help clients prevail in or resolve these disputes.

  • We represent U.S. and multinational broker-dealers, full service firms, institutional and retail broker-dealers, equity and fixed income alternative trading systems, investment banking boutiques, and private placement agents, as well as their associated persons, in enforcement investigations by the SEC, FINRA and other self-regulatory organizations. We also help prepare these clients for FINRA and OCIE inspections and examinations, and advise them throughout the process, including helping to negotiate exam findings.  Our broker-dealer enforcement and litigation lawyers also represent broker-dealers and their associated persons in disputes with customers, primarily in arbitration, and in controversies between member firms over issues such as the departure of registered representatives.  Dechert’s team also advises on self-reporting and disclosure obligations as well as the collateral consequences of statutory disqualifications or other litigation or regulatory events. 

  • Dechert represents primary insurers, reinsurers and insurance brokers, as well as their directors and officers, in litigation and enforcement proceedings. These include securities class action litigation in state and federal courts; government investigations and actions brought by the DOJ, SEC, FINRA and state attorneys general; and internal investigations and related class actions and criminal litigation involving insurance brokerage commissions and allegations of bid-rigging.

    Our litigators work closely with their Dechert colleagues who regularly represent insurance clients in non-litigation matters. We are one of the few law firms with a substantial variable products practice, while our insurance products and insurance funds groups represent numerous mutual funds that underlie insurance products and broker-dealers that distribute such products.