Joining Forces
Hogan Lovells will officially launch in May this year, but what does the merger mean for the firms and for the regional legal landscape? Kathryn Young finds out.
A genuine sense of excitement emanates from Crispin Rapinet. The London-based Lovells’ regional managing partner for Asia and the Middle East is in Dubai for a visit. But this time Rapinet is not just required to check in on Lovells’ lawyers, he is also due up the road in Abu Dhabi at the offices of Hogan and Hartson. For, on May 1, 2010, the Hogan’s “team” will become Rapinet’s – and Lovells’ – “team mates” when the two firms formally merge into mega legal-monolith Hogan Lovells.
All in favour
Murmurings of a potential tie-up first hit the headlines in the final quarter of last year and the partnerships of both firms voted in favour of the merger in mid-December 2009. While the specific breakdown of votes remains confidential, to be successful two thirds of Hogan & Hartson partners and three quarters of Lovells partners had to favour the combination.
The new firm will have a 2,500-lawyer headcount across 40 offices worldwide and boast US$1.8bn in combined revenue. It is the first example of a transatlantic merger of two top 30 global law firms – a true “marriage of equals” as Rapinet puts it – that will open up to Washington-based Hogans and London-headquartered Lovells a far greater breadth and depth of coverage in a wide range of practice areas across the US, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The increased penetration of the US legal market that the merger with Hogans will afford was a major motivation for Lovells. “The decision to merge with a US firm was really a product of our assessment of where we see the market going,” Rapinet reveals. “We have had a presence in the US for more than 20 years – we have got offices in New York and Chicago – and they’ve grown quite substantially over the years, but they remain very small compared to the US firms. If you’re interested in doing top-end work for major Fortune 500 clients then those are the firms that you are going to be competing with.
“We [the management at Lovells] came to the conclusion that seeking to continue to grow those offices organically, in such a way that we would actually build up a significant competitive presence in the US, wasn’t going to happen. This meant that the only way to achieve our aim was through a merger,” Rapinet says.
Hogan’s incentive was the same – but the opposite – in that it was Lovells’ European footprint that appealed to the US firm. Jay Gede, managing partner at Hogan & Hartson based in Abu Dhabi, says that the increased penetration of the combined firm will strengthen its market position overall. “The combination will immediately make a dramatic change in each firm’s positions in the other’s home market. Hogan & Hartson adds a Latin American dimension and Lovells brings a stronger footprint in Europe, Asia and the Middle East,” Gede says.
It will also benefit clients, says Gede. “We will be able to offer a unique, high-quality global capability, combined with extensive reach into the world’s financial and commercial centres. We have particular and distinctive strengths in the areas of regulatory, antitrust, corporate, finance, dispute resolution, intellectual property and real estate law. We also have access to a significant depth of legal knowledge and resources in a number of industry sectors.”
Returning the compliment
Gede and Rapinet both believe that Lovells and Hogans complement each other from a geographic, practice and industry perspective. A similar ethos at the two firms also facilitated the decision to merge. “Culture was a very important factor,” Rapinet says. “We had to merge with a firm we felt would fit with us. Both firms pride themselves on their collaborative culture; on the fact that neither firm tolerates prima donnas very easily. Lovells and Hogan & Hartson believe that you can achieve more as a team rather than you can as an individual running after a particular client.”
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