Profile: Hogan & Hartson

I doubt there are many who would disagree with Garry Pegg’s assertion that “law firms are generally conservative” as businesses. They simply have to be, he points out. The importance and complexity of extremely high-value deals, combined with creating the ideal impression for building vital client relationships, demands a degree of seriousness and caution that is hard to top. And after all, Hogan & Hartson’s London deals have included advising on the US$8.1bn hostile takeover of the world’s fourth largest gold producer. At the same time, all law firms’ clients are asking for an increasing range of information about how their advisers operate – everything from know-how systems and risk profile to diversity and pro bono statistics. Professionalism must be as transparent as it is ingrained.
Nevertheless, it’s difficult to deny that conservative (with a small ‘c’) carries a number of negative connotations law firms have been battling to shake off to some extent – a little stuffy; insular; resistant to change. Coupled with the extent of competition, for legal talent as well as business opportunities, it is something that has made a number of firms sit up and seriously consider how they are truly being perceived – in the legal market and their clients’ markets alike.

Growth spurt
Part of Pegg’s job, he explains, has been to assess and enhance this image – specifically Hogan & Hartson’s standing in the London market. While the firm is based in Washington D.C., where it is one of the of the largest law firms, Pegg is actively trying to “get across to people something more about the firm in London”. The office was launched in 1990, but has grown especially rapidly in the past few years. As a result, in 2006 there was a move from previous premises (where there were “three lawyers’ desks in the photocopier room”, Pegg laughs) to a new base overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral. From 50 fee-earners at the time of moving, the office has expanded to over 70 fee-earners now, and has enough space available for up to 110. When I met Pegg a further six corporate associates were in the process of joining over as many weeks.
“The last six months have probably been the busiest time in the history of the London office,” Pegg says, adding he has likely worked “the hours of a junior doctor” in the past week himself. “Everyone works really hard and we will continue to grow. We can’t stop now because the work is pouring in, client demands are vast, and you do need to be a certain size in London. This office is one of the key priorities for the firm.”

Going underground
This growth was also made a key theme of an unusually innovative recruitment drive in late 2006, spanning the legal press (including a false front cover – a first for law firms), a range of posters and internet advertising. It is a project in which Pegg took a good deal of interest, working closely with the marketing and HR departments. In creative terms, it is also an example of how law firms are pushing the boundaries in their marketing, most notably for the placement of poster advertising on the London Underground. Accustomed to adverts for West End plays, films, fast food and travel insurance, commuters heading to and from their offices could instead be confronted with messages such as “Going Up? Welcome to a law firm that is”.
It was a bold step – taking a whole escalator of 60 advertising panels at Bank tube station and clusters of others in key locations for City footfall, such as Moorgate and Liverpool Street. The campaign used a series of images alongside captions, Pegg explains, to deliver key messages about the firm’s values and identity. “Most of those messages focus on our people. We are really proud of the excellence of our legal skills, but to be fair, there are so may law firms out there that practice law to a very high level. My job is to get across that maybe it’s a bit different working here. It’s about how we want to be positioned – the atmosphere, culture and values of the firm. A lot of the messages are geared towards that.”
The campaign involved sets of straps and images all designed to show twin aspects of the firm – ideas that might seem different, but which, the firm argues, fit together neatly in the culture it fosters. All posters invite the passer-by to ‘take a closer look’. On closer inspection an ornate grandfather clock tells the time digitally – accompanied by the line ‘Heritage with a Contemporary Face’. In another panel, a stylish pen is topped with the head of a child’s toy, announcing ‘Professional yet Personable’. Then the message of the firm’s rapid growth is wittily encapsulated in the image of a baby outfit that resembles a pinstripe business suit. The strap line: ‘We’re having a growth spurt’.
The experiment paid off. “Feedback was incredible, especially from all the recruitment agencies,” Pegg enthuses, although one HR manager of an unnamed US law firm is said have admitted “I wish we could do something like that”. Similarly, a director of a recruitment consultancy commented: “Great to see such a brave move from a U S law firm”. The effort was later recognised by a panel of independent judges when the firm won an award for ‘Best Law Firm Recruitment Campaign’ at the 2007 Legal Marketing Awards.
For all the success, however, Pegg insists that the firm isn’t trying to be ‘quirky’ in its marketing – and indeed believes this is something any law firm should be wary of. “Innovative is good. Quirky is bad. I think some of the UK law firms, frankly, take the lead in the world for superb marketing.
Even the way lawyers do presentations is entirely different to ten or 15 years ago. I look at it closely and learn a lot from it, but I think anyone in the profession would pull back from being ‘quirky’.”
It all comes back to striking the balance between a reputation for excellence and engaging with the modern world – being conservative enough to reassure clients but being innovative and flexible as a business model. Moreover, the effort was designed to appeal as much to potential senior partner lateral hires as to junior associates. “We had to get the right balance and not debase the coinage of what Hogan & Hartson is about. Law firms have to beware of trying to be too catchy or smart,” Pegg explains.

Culture of communication
Although the firm tries to be a “bit different” and “out there”, the campaign is more about underlining aspects of an idiosyncratic culture, he continues. Pegg has been managing partner of the office for around five years – previously holding the same position at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & McRae LLP (now post-merger Dewey & LeBoeuf), but he was quite surprised at what he found on moving across.
“When I joined this firm I went to Washington D.C. I was given messages about the firm’s culture and thought everyone was either very well trained, or they all really mean it. It’s not about having a group of people at the top of the firm who say ‘you shall cross-sell’. If you hire the right people, they are inclined to work together. They don’t have to be forced.”
A ‘culture of communication’ is also what he sees at the root of success in terms of recruitment and retention. “It’s my understanding that a lot of US firms, in London in particular, have said they’ve found it difficult to recruit good associates for around a year now. We haven’t found those difficulties at all. The culture of the firm – the sense you will be treated respectfully and have a good career path – runs through into an ability to hire.” Clearly firms aren’t all equally concerned about the so-called ‘war for talent’ in the profession.
Pegg is also particularly pleased that three people in the London office have progressed from associate to partnership during his five years in the job – two of them women. As with recruitment in general, however, he sees neither a dilemma, nor any great mystery, in the question of gender diversity at the firm. “We have a high proportion of female lawyers, 60 per cent in London, but it doesn’t represent any effort on our part to try and be diverse. We get far more CVs from female lawyers than men. Similarly, we don’t have a particular policy in London to make women partners. They make it on merit. It’s also the dynamic of the market, and I can’t understand why it isn’t reflected in more firms in terms of female partners,” he says.

Growing pains
However good the culture, of course, life in a law firm will never be easy. For Pegg the challenges are facts that just have to be faced. For instance, while the firm makes every effort to be supportive, he feels issues such as work/life balance will always be a problem. “You can’t afford to be cosy and successful as a global law firm, or in this city. It’s the toughest market for legal services in the world. We are aware of the issue of work/life balance, but it’s just a fact that as a lawyer that balance tips in favour of work.” He is also upfront about the drawbacks of certain flexible-working options. “If you have people who do four days a week instead of five, they tend to pack five days into four, and it’s tough for them. A lot of work is also generated by partners and associates talking to each other, creating an atmosphere of trust and like. I don’t think you’ll ever see a situation where lawyers are working from home on a long-term basis. It’s a people business.”
As the firm continues to grow, it is only to be expected this workload will increase, but Pegg isn’t prepared to rush the process. He says his tenure initially consisted of getting the basic building blocks in place for key practice areas, and there have been some attractive pitches the firm hasn’t pursued in the past because of a need for more critical mass at the time. “A lot of US law firms have grown in London by focusing on specialist areas or market sectors such as insurance or telecoms, whereas we had a plan for a full-service office. I want to see us grow quicker, but we’re prepared to wait. We use targeted searches and we like to go to people, but we’re looking for a particular type of person. There are a number of opportunities we haven’t proceeded with,” he explains.
Excitement at the potential is palpable though. “The key thing for any US law firm in London is to get a core corporate transactional practice,” he says. The firm will now be looking to build on recent successes in the M&A, equity and IPO markets, which explains the recent associate influx. However, Pegg said he couldn’t comment on a recent Legal Week report that the London office is advising Ford on its disposal of the Jaguar and Land Rover businesses. Another area of particular interest for the firm’s UK presence is intellectual property, where Pegg says London would be a good additional “stopping-off point” in work flowing from the Tokyo office to Los Angeles, as well as life sciences – where the city can capitalise on a strong regulatory client base already established in the US.
The firm is unlikely to do anything as big as last year’s assault to meet these needs in the immediate future. “I don’t think we’ll do anything as significant as the last marketing campaign, but we will use a variety of techniques so as not to let the momentum fall,” Pegg explains. Far from taking a breather, however, he is certainly hoping for “another growth spurt” in the near future.