6 - Dechert LLP as a Case-Study Observation of Investigatory Knowledge Work

Summary

While pro bono activities have been skeptically discussed in the literature by Fabio (2021), Ryan (2021), and Whalen-Bridge (2021), as presented earlier in this book, many lawyers and law firms emphasize their pro bono activities in their communication on legal services markets. An example is the law firm Dechert, which posted the following message on its website (www.dechert.com) on July 1, 2021: “The American Lawyer ranks Dechert #1 for international pro bono work again.” The firm claims to be the leading law firm for international pro bono work. In the preceding year lawyers at the firm dedicated 7% of billable hours – more than 105,000 lawyer hours – to pro bono work. According to its website, Dechert is a global law firm with 24 offices around the world.

From this book’s perspective of lawyer roles in knowledge work, this chapter describes the work of Dechert lawyers as corporate investigators. They were hired to investigate a publicly sensitive corruption case, and their report of investigation became publicly available. Based on the investigation report and media coverage of the case (Cohan, 2021; Dechert, 2021; Gara and Voytko, 2021; Goldstein et al., 2020), it is possible to present and reflect on Dechert lawyers as corporate investigators in this chapter.

In 2020 the media reported the following statements: “the billionaire who stood by Jeffrey Epstein,” “Dechert’s Leon Black investigation: things you may have missed,” “What a sad tale of sycophants: Wall Street is not buying Leon Black’s Epstein story,” “Jeffrey Epstein’s deep ties to top Wall Street figures,” “Billionaire Leon Black is leaving Apollo following scrutiny over ties to Jeffrey Epstein,” and “Billionaire Leon Black, revealed to pay Jeffrey Epstein $158m, is stepping down” (Gara and Voytko, 2021). These headlines emerged as Dechert (2021) concluded an investigation on behalf of the board of Apollo Global Management. Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in jail in August 2019 after being charged with historical sex offences, including the abuse of underage female prostitutes (Sampson, 2020). The suspected fraud was concerned with Black’s involvement with Epstein.