In the small cadre of mega law firms that have used the Swiss verein corporate structure to span the globe, Hogan Lovells stands out. Call it the verein that doesn’t look like a verein.
The verein structure is notable for the flexibility it gives international law firms, allowing them to combine cross-border without fully merging financial systems, including profit-sharing. In the seven years since Washington, D.C.-based Hogan & Hartson and London-based Lovells joined forces, the combined firm has taken a very different path from other verein firms such as Dentons and Norton Rose Fulbright, which were both formed at around the same time. Where those firms have used their formative combinations as a platform for massive global expansion with a succession of bolt-on deals, Hogan Lovells has been steadily getting on with the job. Today Hogan Lovells is a solid, stable business that is integrated to the point of being virtually indistinguishable from any single-partnership firm, with roughly $1 billion of work referred between its two arms.
