The Legal Intelligencer Honors Dechert Pair for Professional Excellence

Two Dechert LLP partners have been recognized by The Legal Intelligencer in its Professional Excellence Awards for 2023. The awards were established to celebrate the achievements of Pennsylvania-based lawyers who have left an indelible mark on the legal community.

David W. Forti, Dechert’s co-chair-elect and long-time member of the firm’s Policy Committee, was named a “Distinguished Leader” after a memorable year marked by multiple professional achievements.

Dechert recently announced Mr. Forti’s appointment as co-chair of the firm, a role that becomes effective in July when the current Dechert leadership terms end.

Mr. Forti also co-chaired Dechert’s global finance and real estate practice groups until stepping down in March. Under his leadership, the firm’s global finance team has earned multiple accolades, including being recognized this year as a Law360 Practice Group of the Year for Structured Finance, ranked by Asset-Backed Alert as #1 issuers’ counsel for U.S. CLOs and (for the second consecutive year) for single-family rental securitizations, and named the leading CRE CLO counsel for both issuers and underwriters by Commercial Mortgage Alert. 

Mr. Forti was also honored – for the second time – as a Law360 “Real Estate MVP” in 2022 after advising on some of the market’s largest real estate financing transactions.

Linda Ann Bartosch, a Philadelphia-based global finance partner, was also recognized by The Legal Intelligencer and honored as a “Lawyer on the Fast Track”. Ms. Bartosch, who was named to the partnership at Dechert in January 2022, has led on a series of real estate finance, structured finance and fintech deals this past year.

Notably, she led a Dechert team that advised Huntingdon Valley Bank in a master participation arrangement to sell participations in commercial loans to the MakerDAO PROTOCOL, a deal that is believed to be the first commercial loan participation between a U.S regulated financial institution and a decentralized digital currency (the “DAI”, a stable coin).

Ms. Bartosch, a member of Dechert’s Innovation Task Force and co-chair of the FRE Innovation Group, was recently appointed to Law360’s 2023 Fintech editorial board.

Winners in The Legal Intelligencer awards will be honored at a ceremony on June 14 at Loews Philadelphia.

About Dechert 

Dechert is a leading global law firm with 21 offices around the world. We advise on matters and transactions of the greatest complexity, bringing energy, creativity and efficient management of legal issues to deliver commercial and practical advice for clients.