In today's rapidly changing world, businesses across every industry must become current with ever-evolving technological trends to stay relevant. While it may seem that those in sectors such as electronics or software are the only ones who must keep up with advancing technology, the truth is that no vocation is immune from the necessity to innovate. Even those in the legal profession, such as parters at white collar law firm, Dechert, have recently found themselves searching for ways to make their businesses more technology savvy. Technological advancements have allowed modern software to streamline many aspects of a lawyers' daily activities. Additionally, there are now more ways for firms to communicate effectively with their clients.

Today, many clients expect that wider use of technology will lead to higher-quality legal services. For example, the white collar investigation team for global law firm Dechert LLP has recently received international acclaim for their work on the recognized European aerospace leader Airbus SE case. As a result of an unprecedented, multi-jurisdictional investigation, Airbus created a Virtual Law Firm (VLF) to work in tandem with their in-house legal department on the global corruption investigation. Alongside Clifford Chance and August Debouzy in France and Paul Hastings and Arnold & Porter Kate Scholer in the United States, Dechert's team ended the four-year investigation with a $4 billion, same-day settlement.

Founded in 1875, Dechert LLP has practiced law for over a century. Today, they have 24 locations across the world and employ some of the top lawyers in their respective fields. The firm offers a breadth of services, with practices in areas such as corporate and securities, complex litigation, finance and real estate, and financial services and asset management. Corporations, financial institutions, sovereign states, quasi-sovereign entities, and private and high-net-worth individuals have relied on the firm for their services, including 40 'Fortune 100' companies and 24 of the 25 top global asset management firms.

In particular, Dechert has become known for its white collar, compliance, and investigations practice. They have represented clients in virtually all substantive areas of white collar defense and are leaders in managing large, complex, multijurisdictional investigations. When Airbus was hit with a landmark corruption case that addressed conduct in 16 different countries, their general counsel John Harrison enlisted Dechert to work in an unprecedented collaborative virtual law firm.

Although the coronavirus pandemic brought services such as Zoom to law offices, the concept of a virtual law firm can be dated back to 1996. In their 2020 Legal Trends Report, Themis Solutions Inc. found that over half of consumers preferred to share documents electronically and communicate via video conferencing over phone calls. This means that not only are most users of legal services ready to interact with lawyers virtually, but they are also increasingly interpreting the use of technology as an indication of higher-quality service. In the past, such methods have raised questions over security, but with today's cloud and blockchain technology, there are more ways to mitigate risk than ever. In fact, many technologies that have the potential to bring about great innovation in law offices are already readily available and easily adaptable.

The advantages of a virtual law firm were evident in the Airbus investigation. By bringing together top white collar lawyers, export control practitioners, eDiscovery consultants, and forensic accountants in a virtual space, they achieved seamless cooperation amongst counsel while dealing with three distinct and separate jurisdictions. Through the virtual law firm, Airbus met their commitment to full and simultaneous cooperation with the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office, France's Parquet National Financier, and the United States' Departments of Justice and State while also meeting unique case-specific challenges involving the French Blocking Statute, data privacy and national security constraints, conflicting rules of legal privilege, and incompatible rules for assessing criminal penalties.

Dechert's team played a leading role in advising Airbus on the investigation, particularly regarding interactions and negotiations with UK regulators at the Serious Fraud Office. They also worked with Airbus to develop and deploy an innovative global disclosure strategy that was crucial to the firm's collaboration efforts with enforcement agencies.

The landmark global investigation settlement became the first to involve simultaneous resolutions with regulators in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, including three deferred prosecution agreements all without a guilty plea at any level. Dechert's white collar practice has been recognized on numerous occasions for their work on the case, with Global Investigations Review (GIR) recognizing the settlement as the 'Most Important Development of the Year' and selecting the team as a finalist for 'Most Impressive Investigations Practice of the Year' at the GIR Awards 2020. The Lawyer Awards 2020 named the practice the 'Conduct, Enforcement, or Business Crime Team of the Year.' In the business intelligence organization C5's Women in Compliance Awards for 2020, they were awarded 'Investigation Team of the Year.' Additionally, Dechert's white collar crime lawyer Caroline Black was honored for her work on the Airbus case when she was named an 'Expert for White Collar Crime' by Euromoney's Expert Guides 2020 in the United Kingdom.

For most businesses, the idea of implementing new technologies should not be a question of 'if' but, rather, 'when.' Even in a profession as old as law, tradition must be combined with innovation to survive. In an increasingly globalized world, the complexity of modern markets and geopolitical uncertainty have made collaboration a necessity, and keeping up to date with new technology is the only way to move forward. By examining Dechert's white collar crime practice in the Airbus case, one can get a compelling glimpse at the tech-savvy, client-focused future for the legal profession.