Hogan Lovells overhauls its international management structure under new leadership

Hogan Lovells is looking to overhaul its international management structure under the leadership of a new incoming CEO. Changes that will be implemented on 1 July include the consolidation of the firm’s practice groups and the restructuring of its International Management Committee (IMC).

Hogan Lovells’ five administrative regions will be combined under three umbrellas as the Americas and D.C. regions are merged. There will also be a single EMEA region that consolidates the UK and Africa offices with the continental Europe and Middle East branches.

“Having a 'One Americas' region will enable us to more easily take a holistic and integrated approach to sharing clients, work, investments, and resources,” said incoming Hogan Lovells CEO Michael Zaldivar.

“We have already adopted the same approach very successfully with our offices in Germany and Greater China. Having a single EMEA region is an approach taken by many of our clients and competitors, and reflective of the economic and social ties in that part of the world as well as time zone and geographical proximity.”

At present, the Asia Pacific and Middle East region covers the branches in Greater China, Japan and Australia, where Hogan Lovells has offices in Sydney and Perth. This region also includes the emergent Southeast Asia market.

The firm’s five practice groups will also be folded into three practices, with the corporate practice group and finance practice group merging into the new combined corporate and finance practice. This group will be composed of approximately 400 partners. The global regulatory and intellectual property, media and technology (IPMT) practice groups will be under a single global regulatory and IPMT practice consisting of around 230 partners.

“There is already a significant amount of overlap between corporate and finance, particularly in the capital markets space as well as in areas such as joint ventures, M&A, and commercial work,” said Zaldivar. “With global regulatory and IPMT, there are already synergies between them in areas such as privacy and cybersecurity; pharmaceutical and technology patent litigation; and antitrust investigations.”

In accordance with these changes, the firm’s IMC is undergoing an overhaul, with some members of the committee taking on new roles. This committee sets and implements Hogan Lovells’s strategic direction and business operations; it is composed of the heads of the practice groups and of the administrative regions, along with clients and markets.

Susan Bright, the office managing partner (OMP) for the UK branch, hands over her position on the IMC to Penny Angell and will begin her tenure as the global managing partner for diversity and inclusion and responsible business beginning 2021. Eve Howard transitions from the committee to acting as the global head of the combined capital markets practice. While he steps down from the IMC, Cole Finegan will remain the Denver OMP while supporting the expansion of the government relations and public affairs practice in the Americas region.

The UK and D.C. offices will still be included in IMC discussions as relevant, as will the Germany office.