Dechert has brought in Drake Tempest as partner in the corporate and securities group. Tempest, who will be based in the law firm's New York office, focuses on mergers & acquisitions, capital markets and leveraged finance transactions. Previously, Tempest was with O'Melveny & Myers and earlier served as general counsel of Qwest Communications International.

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Company Press Release

(January 28, 2008) Dechert LLP announced today that Drake Tempest has joined the firm as a partner in the corporate and securities group. He is based in the firm’s New York office and was previously at O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

"Dechert's commitment to client service coupled with its top-ranked transactional practices are the key reasons why I was drawn to the firm," said Tempest. "I am excited to join Dechert's corporate and securities practice and contribute to its growth and success."

Tempest focuses his practice on corporate counseling, mergers & acquisitions, private equity, real estate, and capital markets and leveraged finance transactions. In particular, he represents buyers, sellers, financial advisors, and special committees of boards of directors in complex public and private acquisitions; sponsors and investors in private equity funds; lenders and borrowers in secured and unsecured credit facilities; and issuers and underwriters in public and private offerings of debt and equity securities.

Tempest served for four years as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Qwest Communications International Inc. His responsibilities at Quest included directing the acquisition of US WEST, Inc., a $51 billion hostile takeover, and the disposition of QwestDEX, the company's yellow pages business, for $7 billion.

"Drake brings a wealth of practical experience having counseled on complex corporate transactions both in private practice and as General Counsel of a major publicly-traded corporation" said Barton J. Winokur, Dechert chairman. "His experience advising on significant mergers and acquisitions, financings, and real estate transactions will be an important asset to the firm."

Dechert was recognized as a top M&A law firm in the year-end league tables of Bloomberg, Corporate Control Alert, Thomson Financial, and Mergerstat. In addition, we were ranked among the leading law firms for private equity in the annual league tables of mergermarket and Private Equity Analyst, and are regularly featured among the top law firms for capital markets by Thomson Financial.

A graduate of Williams College (B.A., Political Science, 1974), Tempest studied at Oxford University for two years before attending Yale University (J.D., 1979). He is admitted to practice in New York and Colorado.

With more than 1,000 lawyers in 17 cities in the United States, Europe, and Asia, Dechert LLP advises corporations and financial institutions on litigation, transactional, and corporate and regulatory matters. Visit Dechert at www.dechert.com.  

Edited by: Erin Kello


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