Tag: hogan lovells

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Hogan Lovells hails ‘record’ financial results as revenues and profits soar

In what it calls the ‘most successful year in the firm’s history’, Hogan Lovells has added $300m to its top line as revenue increased 13% from $2.3bn to $2.6bn.

It posted an even more striking profit result, with PEP shooting upwards 26% from $2m to $2.5m. Revenue per lawyer also saw a healthy 17% increase from $884,000 to just over $1m.

The 13% revenue hike far outstrips last year’s 3% increase in global fee income. Remarkably, the 26% jump in PEP is lower than last year’s startling 31% rate, although this was caveated by the introduction of a compensation floor for some partners in response to the pandemic.

Chief executive Miguel Zaldivar (pictured) hailed a stringent ‘financial discipline’ driving profitability: ‘There was no significant change to the partnership structure in the last year – we got invoices out early and converted WIP into revenues.’

Embodying the firm’s transatlantic focus, 47% of Hogan Lovells’ business originated from the Americas, with an equal 47% being generated from its EMEA business. The remaining 6% was derived from Asia. The UK specifically made up $534m of the firm’s overall revenue, representing 21% of the business.

Zaldivar said the results were a reflection of his ‘balance, balance, balance’ mantra: ‘We’ve had record years in every market. The economy in the US is booming, and we saw record performances in London, Germany and France. In our business, that geographical balance used to be a hedge, but it has now become a driver of success.’

In terms of practice groups, Hogan Lovells’ corporate and finance group represented 42% of turnover, with global regulatory and intellectual property, media and technology at 30%, and litigation, arbitration and employment at 28%.

Headline mandates for the period included the firm’s US practice, led by Silicon Valley M&A partner Keith Flaum, advising Oracle Corporation on its $28.3bn acquisition of Cerner Corporation. And in a notable disputes matter, Hogan Lovells is representing ENRC in its high-profile claims against the UK Serious Fraud Office following the conclusion of a long-running fraud and bribery probe.

Deputy chief executive Michael Davison told Legal Business: ‘Usually when there’s an M&A boom, there’s a slowdown in contentious work, but we’ve had both. It’s been a record year for our litigators.’

Hogan Lovells also announced this week plans to relocate to a new London headquarters in 2026, swapping Atlantic House for soon-to-be built premises at Holborn Viaduct. The firm will occupy all 12 floors of the building, which will comprise 266,000 square feet.

For an in-depth look at Hogan Lovells’ track record since its 2010 transatlantic merger, see ‘Winning Hartson minds’.

Tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

This article first appeared on Legal Business.

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Six City firms appoint BPP to deliver ‘super-exam’ prep courses amid education shake-up

BPP has been chosen by a consortium of six leading firms to provide Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) preparation, as the City gears up for an incoming education overhaul.

The consortium is comprised of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Hogan Lovells, Linklaters, Norton Rose Fulbright and Slaughter and May.  BPP will now design an education and skills programme to train future trainees at the firms.

‘We were sceptical [of the SQE] but the time for those discussions is in the past,’ Hogan Lovells pensions partner Edward Brown told Legal Business. ‘Now we’re taking advantage of the deregulation.’

The existing education regime requires a student to hold a law degree (or non-law degree plus a graduate diploma in law) and a one-year Legal Practice Course (LPC) followed by a two-year training contract at a law firm. The SQE will uproot this model, with prospective solicitors instead needing only to hold a degree or equivalent, pass an exam divided into two parts and have two years of qualifying work experience from a wider group of employers.

The appointment by the consortium suggests the ongoing domination of legal education by BPP and University of Law (ULaw) will persist. In total three providers were considered by the firms before BPP was chosen, with some observers surprised University of Law was not appointed. However, in a potential challenge to the existing duopoly, Australia’s leading legal training outfit launched in the UK last week through The College of Legal Practice.

The six firms are also hoping candidates will sit the first and second parts of the controversial exam before entering the workplace, despite the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s suggestion SQE 2 should be sat after work experience.

‘It’s easy to complain law firms are being conservative and not moving with the times,’ HSF partner Tim West told Legal Business. ‘But this is a root-and-branch change to the training of lawyers and ensures they are prepared from day one.’

While the courses are still being designed by BPP, West and Brown suggested technology will receive greater emphasis in the new programmes. The firms will also be taking existing components of the LPC and further tailoring them to the requirements of City law.

BPP will deliver the new suite of programmes for prospective trainees from autumn 2021. Subject to changes made by the regulator, trainees will sit the SQE in or around November 2022. The first intake of trainees affected should be joining the consortium’s firms in spring 2023.

thomas.alan@legalease.co.uk

This article first appeared on Legal Business.