Life in litigation at Dechert is akin to an episode of Survivor filmed on a desert island, full of associates who must compete for diminishing resources. Even Reality TV has comparative advantages over Dechert in its treatment of contestants, however. At the firm, when there is work, there is no rhyme or reason to how it is distributed, and arguably no functional assignment system at all. E-mails and calls to practice group management go unanswered. Associate strengths are ignored. Training is nominal at best and, after the first year, virtually non-existent.
Against this backdrop, Dechert leadership does not hold its associates in high regard—and examples abound. Take what happened in the litigation department last year: rather than share the burden when times were slow, the firm singled out about 15 associates on the short end of the stick and laid them off. It was not only ruthless, but also virtually unheard of among peer firms during non-recessionary times (and no less during a supposedly record year for the firm overall!) This came after Dechert dragged its feet on matching the new 180K salary scale for just about as long as it could. All firms care about maintaining profits, granted, but Dechert’s approach to treating its associates as statistics is striking.
The bottom line is this: if you hope to have a career here, or even to get meaningful experience, good luck. You will need a lot of it.
