Hogan Lovells: Difference between revisions

Hogan Lovells
Headquarters	Washington (D.C.)
Number of Offices	49
Number of attorneys	2,670
Practice Areas	General practice
Key People	? (Stephen J. Immelt (CEO) David Hudd (Deputy CEO))
Annual Revenue	$1,720 million
Annual Profit Per Equity Partner	$1.2 million

Hogan Lovells is a multinational law firm co-headquartered in London and Washington, D.C. It was formed on May 1, 2010 by the merger of Washington-based Hogan & Hartson and London-based Lovells.^[1] Hogan Lovells has around 2,500 lawyers working in more than 40 offices in the United States, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. In 2013, Hogan Lovells was the eleventh largest law firm in the world by revenues,^[2] earning around US$1.8bn (£1.1bn) that year.^[3]

Hogan Lovells claims specialization in "government regulatory, litigation and arbitration, corporate, finance, and intellectual property".^[4]

History[edit | edit source]

Hogan & Hartson[edit | edit source]

The logo of Hogan & Hartson prior to the Hogan Lovells merger

Hogan & Hartson was founded by Frank J. Hogan in 1904. In 1925, Hogan was joined by Nelson T. Hartson, a former Internal Revenue Service attorney, and John William Guider. Hogan & Hartson then went into partnership in 1938.

In 1970, Hogan & Hartson became the first major firm to establish a separate practice group devoted exclusively to providing pro bono legal services. The Community Services Department (CSD) dealt with civil rights, environmental, homeless and other public interest groups. In 1990, Hogan & Hartson opened an office in London, their first outside the U.S.^[5]

In 2000, the firm expanded to Tokyo and Berlin (after poaching a team from the former German ally of UK firm Linklaters). The firm expanded its presence in New York and Los Angeles in 2002 when it acquired mid-sized law firm Squadron, Ellenoff, Plesent & Sheinfeld, a storied New York City-based practice with strengths in media, litigation and First Amendment law.^[6]

At the time of the merger, Hogan & Hartson was the oldest major law firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States. It was a global firm with more than 1,100 lawyers in 27 offices worldwide, including offices in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Lovells[edit | edit source]

Lovells traced its history in the UK back to 1899, when John Lovell set up on his own account at Octavia Hill, between St Paul's and Smithfield. He was later joined by Reginald White, a clerk in his previous firm, to whom he gave articles. In 1924, they were joined by Charles King, forming Lovell, White & King. Soon after formation, the firm moved to Thavies Inn at Holborn Circus and later to Serjeant's Inn, Fleet Street, before moving to 21 Holborn Viaduct in October 1977.

Lovells was formed as a result of a number of earlier mergers. In 1966, Lovell, White & King merged with Haslewoods, a firm with a much longer history of private client work. Haslewoods diverse clients included the Treasury Solicitor. In 1988, Lovell, White & King, which by then had a large international commercial practice, merged with Durrant Piesse, known, in particular, for its specialism in banking and financial services, forming Lovell White Durrant. It then changed to Lovells in 2000 when the firm merged with German law firm Boesebeck Droste. Other mergers then followed in other European countries during the early 2000s (decade).^[7]

In the early 2000s Lovells invested strongly in China, expanding is office in Beijing and opening an office in Shanghai becoming the second largest foreign firm in China. Following five years of growth, culminating in the opening of the firm's Madrid office in 2004, Lovells had a presence in every major European jurisdiction. In 2007, Lovells opened an office in Dubai, offering legal services to corporations, financial institutions and individuals in the Middle East and at the beginning of 2009 opened an office in Hanoi. In September 2009, Lovells opened an associated office in Riyadh.

At the time of the merger, Lovells was a London-based international law firm with over 300 partners and around 3,150 employees operating from 26 offices in Europe, Asia and the United States.

Hogan Lovells[edit | edit source]

The London office of Lovells in 2008, shortly before the merger with Hogan & Hartson.

Hogan & Hartson and Lovells announced their agreement to merge on 15 December 2009.^[8] Hogan Lovells was officially formed on May 1, 2010.

In December 2011 it was reported that Hogan Lovells would be moving to a single chairman model following the retirement of John Young.^[9]

In December 2013, Hogan Lovells merged with South African firm Routledge Modise. The addition of about 120 lawyers in the Johannesburg office make up the first physical location for Hogan Lovells in Africa although the firm maintains a presence in Francophone Africa through its Paris office.^[10]

Practice[edit | edit source]

Template:Prose Hogan Lovells practices in a variety of commercial law. Hogan Lovells has advised on the following matters:

• Advised Kodak Pensioner Plan on its $650m acquisition of the personal film business from Kodak^[11]
• Counselled tech-giant Dell on its $24.4bn deal to go private^[12]
• Advised fashion label Nicole Farhi on its £5.5m sale to businesswoman and heiress, Maxine Hargreaves-Adams^[13]
• Advised long-standing client SABMiller on its £7.8bn acquisition of Australian brewer Foster's Group on aspects of structuring the bid and acquisition finance.^[14]
• Advised SABMiller on its €1bn Eurobond issue.^[15]
• Advised Apple Inc. on its $17bn (£10.9bn) bond issue, described as the largest corporate bond offering in history.^[16]
• Assisted with the negotiation of terms with Fairtrade regarding sourcing and use of sustainable cocoa in Maltesers for Mars^[17]
• Advised the Republic of Ecuador in the negotiation of a multimillion-dollar facility agreement to be used by the state-owned television and radio network, RTV Ecuador^[18]
• Advised the underwriters Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs in connection with the initial public offering (IPO) of Empire State Realty Trust, Inc., whose properties include among others Manhattan's Empire State Building.^[19]
• Acted for PricewaterhouseCoopers Bermuda in cases stemming from Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi schemes^[20]
• In May 2014, Snapchat turned to Hogan Lovells to hire its first General Counsel, appointing a Washington DC-based partner.^[21]
• In July 2015, power management semiconductor company Semitrex hired Hogan Lovells to lobby for energy efficiency issues.^[22]

Lobbying in the United States[edit | edit source]

Hogan Lovells is among the largest lobbying firms in the United States. Before the merger, by revenue, Hogan & Hartson was among the top five lobbying firms in the United States.^[23] Since the merger, the firm has remained among the largest lobbying firms, servicing $12.3 million in lobbying 2013.^[24]

See also[edit | edit source]

• Hogan Lovells Professor of Law and Finance, a position at the University of Oxford

References[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

• Hogan Lovells website