23 Jan 2026
Dechert Adds Over 20 Lateral Partners and Opens Offices in Chicago and Dallas
"Dechert welcomes 20+ lateral partners to bolster litigation, accounting defense, IP, labor & employment and corporate/M&A practices as it opens offices in Chicago and Dallas."
Mike Poulos most recently served as partner in charge of global strategy and as a member of the executive committee at a leading law firm. He will join Dechert as vice chair and global head of strategy and will lead the group’s integration with firm leadership.
Seth Friedman and Tim Hoeffner will co-chair Dechert’s new accounting defense practice. The announcement describes the practice as a Chambers Band 1 accounting defense practice; no prior firms for Friedman or Hoeffner are specified in the release.
Seasoned trial lawyer Bill Donovan will chair Dechert’s growing class action practice and will be resident in the firm’s Los Angeles office.
Rachel Cowen will join Nicolle Jacoby and Philippe Thomas as co-chair of the labor and employment practice. Christina Martini will join as co-chair of Dechert’s intellectual property practice, alongside current Dechert chair Kassie Helm.
Corporate and securities partner Joanna Lin and senior counsel Wilson Chu joined Dechert in early January to launch the firm’s corporate and M&A practice in Dallas. With these additions, Dechert will have five partners in Dallas focusing on complex litigation, corporate governance and M&A.
The lateral group practices across litigation, transactional work, intellectual property and employment matters and will be resident in Dechert’s New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. offices, as well as the soon-to-be-opened Chicago and Dallas offices.
The announcement also notes recent key lateral hires: veteran trial attorney Randy Mastro joined as co-chair of the securities and complex litigation team in New York from his most recent position as First Deputy Mayor of New York City. Jim Wetwiska, a veteran energy and technology trial lawyer with deep experience in commercial transactions, will build out Dechert’s forthcoming Houston office. Jarlath Pratt joined as a corporate and securities partner in London to enhance the firm’s private capital capabilities. David Marcinkus, a financial services group partner in Washington, D.C., who was previously with the SEC, will bolster the firm’s permanent capital and private credit practice.
Dechert described the hires as aligned with its strategic growth plan and said the partners will help expand the firm’s litigation, corporate, intellectual property and labor and employment capabilities.