Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Hogan Lovells
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Hogan Lovells
- Designation: Verein
- Head Count: 2,280
- Gross Revenues: $1,633,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $715,000
- Profits Per Partner: $1,095,000
- Year Over Year Change: 1
For industry watchers, the 2010 merger catapulting Hogan Lovells into the uppermost echelon of legal powerhouses couldn’t have come as too much of a surprise. The two firms in that alliance had long understood the benefits of a good pairing.
After teaming up nearly a century ago, Frank Hogan (famous for his trial work in the Teapot Dome scandal and other politically charged cases) and Nelson Hartson (former solicitor of internal revenue) quickly hit on a successful division of labor: Hogan developed the litigation practice; Hartson the business practice. Eventually, Hogan & Hartson would rank as Washington, D.C.’s largest firm, coming in at number one on the 2010 Legal Times 150 list. Another successful match—a 2002 merger with Squadron Ellenoff Plesent & Sheinfeld—would give it a sizable presence in the key markets of New York and Los Angeles, as well.
London–based Lovells was also the product of mergers, growing over the past several decades through combinations with key European firms, including Haslewoods, Durrant Piesse, and Boesebeck Droste.
Yet all of these mergers were dwarfed by the May 2010 deal that created a 2,363–lawyer, 40–office giant—a firm who made its debut on the Am Law 100 in fifth place. The combined firm’s strengths include litigation, regulatory and tax work, intellectual property, and communications law. International work is seen as a particularly strong engine for growth. In early 2012, Hogan Lovells announced the launch of its Israel Regional Practice Development Team, to drive more business in that country and increase its already formidable presence in the Middle East.
There have been postmerger glitches, however. Hogan’s Geneva and Warsaw offices defected to other U.S.–based firms in 2010, and 18 partners in Berlin struck out on their own. The flagship D.C. office took a hit in 2011, when it fell from first to third on the Legal Times 150 list after losing 57 lawyers, including 12 partners. Commenting on the drop, the firm’s cochief executive officer, J. Warren Gorrell, said that the firm “want[s] to be staffing as leanly as we can.” But it didn’t get big so it could get small.
They’ve chosen a global growth strategy and Gorrell, a competitive amateur biker, is going as fast as he can to make it work.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 7 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 7 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 4 | no change | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | 50 | 3 | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 23 | 7 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 44 | 56 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 112 | N/A | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 83 | N/A | Summer programs |
In the News
Profile: Managing Up
Shannon Green : Corporate Counsel : May 1, 2013
Audrey Anderson, Vanderbilt University
Board Cannot Keep Information From Directors, Even in Litigation
Jeff Mordock : Delaware Business Court Insider : May 1, 2013
A corporate defendant cannot invoke attorney-client privilege or the work-product doctrine against an active director who has filed a derivative lawsuit against the company and its board, the Delaware Court of Chancery has ruled. In issuing the opinion, which affirms a director's right to access privileged material, the court granted a plaintiff's motion to compel the production of documents related to the company's legal counsel's advice regarding a potential recapitalization.
S&C's Work on Kodak Case Yields Key Deal and Big Fees
Julie Triedman : The Am Law Daily : May 1, 2013
In its first-ever representation of a debtor in a Chapter 11 case, Sullivan & Cromwell put Eastman Kodak on a path out of insolvency, kept the company's U.K. and global units clear of restructuring proceedings, and relied on an unusual fee structure to rack up bills totaling $44.5 million so far.
Deals & Suits
: Corporate Counsel : May 1, 2013
Hogan Handles Apple's Record $17 Billion Bond Sale
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : April 30, 2013
Consumer electronics giant Apple, which was unburdened by debt until this week, is relying on Hogan Lovells as the company undertakes its first bond sale in more than two decades to help finance a $100 billion capital return program to shareholders.
Seven Am Law 100 Firms Land Roles on Pair of Drug Deals
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : April 29, 2013
German pharmaceutical giant Bayer said Monday it has agreed to acquire contraceptive device company Conceptus for $1.1 billion, while Auxilium Pharmaceuticals announced its $585 million purchase of urology-focused drug company Actient Holdings. Sullivan & Cromwell has roles on both deals, which also generated assignments for Hogan Lovells, Jones Day, Kirkland, Latham, Morgan Lewis, and Willkie.
Rocket Science
Claire Zillman : The American Lawyer : April 25, 2013
How court reform turned Munich into the new hot spot for patent litigation in Germany.
Starting at the Top
Victor Li : The American Lawyer : April 25, 2013
When she argued on behalf of an octogenarian widow challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act before the U.S. Supreme Court in March, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison partner Roberta Kaplan joined the ranks of Am Law lawyers who made their high court debut in landmark cases.
No Stranger to Hacking, Hunton & Williams Adds Cybersecurity Expert
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : April 25, 2013
Paul Tiao, a former senior cybersecurity adviser with the FBI, has left the agency to become a partner in the privacy and data security group of Hunton & Williams in Washington, D.C. The practice group Tiao is joining, which Hunton launched 13 years ago, was itself caught up in a hacking scandal involving several security firms two years ago.
Hogan Lovells attorneys work with Chinese office to obtain $313 million loan
Adolfo Pesquera : Daily Business Review : April 24, 2013
Miguel Zaldivar Jr. and Gaston Fernandez advised Ecuador in negotiations with the Export-Import Bank of China to secure $313 million for a hydroelectric generation project.
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