As Partner Losses Near 70, Dewey's Troubles Spread Overseas

With a few exceptions, the partner defections buffeting Dewey & LeBoeuf this year have been confined to the firm’s nine domestic offices. Now, however, Dewey’s problems may be going global.

So far, only the embattled firm’s Dubai office has officially announced plans to leave. As The Am Law Daily reported last week, Dechert is taking on most of those attorneys, as well as a handful in London, by hiring a nearly 20-lawyer emerging markets team.

Leading the charge from Dewey to Dechert is London-based partner Camille Abousleiman, who will head his new firm’s Middle East and Africa practice. Also joining Dechert as partners are Louise Roman Bernstein in London, Chris Sioufi and Gavin Watson in Dubai, and Nicola Mariani in Tbilisi, Georgia. Three national partners, one counsel, and seven associates also join in Dubai, with additional Dewey associates expected to move over in London. The new hires bring Dechert into the Dubai market for the first time.

Abousleiman says that before he and his team made the move, they narrowed the field of potential new firms to two, got offers from both, and then decided on Dechert. The firm’s financial stability—and its lack of debt—”was attractive to us,” says Abousleiman, adding that the transition has been smooth so far and that Dewey has “been extremely nice about it.” (He dismissed news reports suggesting Dewey was enforcing a clause in its partnership agreement requiring partners to remain at the firm for 60 days after resigning. “They haven’t tried to do that,” Abousleiman says. “And I don’t think they would if they could.”)

Abousleiman says that he and Roman Bernstein have worked together since 1994. In 2007 the pair left what was then Dewey Ballantine to join LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, not knowing the two firms would merge within months. “Luckily,” he says, “we left on good terms.”

Dewey’s Moscow and Italy outposts, meanwhile, are also reportedly seeking new homes, though both offices deny that is the case.

Bloomberg reports that the 42-lawyer, 12-partner Moscow office, which Dewey Ballantine opened in 1990, is in talks with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Winston & Strawn; and King & Spalding. Contacted by The Am Law Daily, spokesmen from Orrick and Winston declined to comment. A representative for King & Spalding did not return a request for comment.

Moscow practice head Brian Zimbler also did not return a call seeking comment. Reached Thursday, Moscow corporate partner Oleg Berger called the report “very inaccurate and misleading” and denied it emphatically.

“Clearly we’re all sort of watching developments,” he said. “But we remain committed to working on behalf of our clients at the firm. I don’t know where those stories came from; they are very inaccurate.”