Lovells and Hogan & Hartson announce May merger

INTERNATIONAL LAW firms Hogan & Hartson and Lovells are to merge, effective 1 May 2010, the pair have announced.

Both partnerships have voted to approve the transatlantic combination, first outlined in October, which will unite approximately 2,500 lawyers working out of 40 offices worldwide.

In a statement Lovells described the move as the “first transatlantic ‘merger of equals’”, creating a US$1.8bn business and top-ten global practice designed to meet the increasingly cross-border needs of multinational clients.

“The new firm will have unrivalled global capability and distinctive strengths in dispute resolution, regulatory, antitrust, corporate, finance, intellectual property and real estate,” said Lovells global managing partner David Harris.

Following necessary regulatory clearances, Harris will now become co-CEO of Hogan Lovells, sharing the leadership with current Hogan & Hartson chairman Warren Gorrell. The practice will comprise entities Hogan Lovells US LLP, Hogan Lovells International LLP, a Swiss Verein and affiliated businesses.

“Each firm will preserve its shared cultural and core values — collegiality, teamwork, and worldwide leadership in community service,” added Gorrell.

Both firms already have offices in key global business centres such as Hong Kong, Beijing, London, Moscow, New York and Tokyo, but joining with Hogan gives Lovells its first footprint in US capital Washington , D.C.

Hogan also has US offices in Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia and San Francisco among others, while Lovells has an existing office in legal centre Chicago, which Hogan does not.

Lovells also gains its first office in South America with Venezuelan capital Caracas. In early 2009 it opened a second Vietnam base in Hanoi, while September saw the launch of an association with Saudi Arabian law firm Al-Yaqoub Attorneys & Legal Advisers (AYALA).

Significant attention has also been centred on the anticipated aligned remuneration structure of Hogan Lovells, which is expected to lean towards the more merit-based model of Hogan. In this structure some 85 per cent of equity partner profits are allocated on a points-based system, which is reviewed every two years, with the further 15 per cent awarded from an annual bonus pool recognising shorter-term contribution.