Shortly after the information broke that A&O Shearman could be shutting down its South Africa workplace, Hogan Lovells has introduced it would shut three world places of work within the coming months.
The agency mentioned closing the Warsaw, Sydney and Johannesburg places of work is a part of its strategic strategy to concentrate on key markets akin to London, New York, California, Texas, Washington DC, and different worldwide hubs.
CEO Miguel Zaldivar (pictured) commented: ‘Closing these three places of work was a troublesome choice, however one which was wanted in order that we are able to proceed our path to attain transformational development and drive higher success.’
‘As a number one world regulation agency, we’re centered on guaranteeing that we’re current in strategic markets the place our purchasers look to us for help and complex, high-end work,’ he continued.
The agency’s web site exhibits 19 attorneys in Sydney, together with seven companions. The workplace opened in 2015 alongside Hogan Lovells’ Perth workplace, which closed with the exit of world mining cohead Matthew Johnson to then-A&O in 2022. Johnson is at the moment a mining sector lead at A&O Shearman. Among the many different Sydney companions is Asia-Pacific regional managing associate Lloyd Parker.
The Johannesburg workplace opened in 2014 and based on the agency’s web site is residence to 9 attorneys, together with three companions. The agency’s web site exhibits 33 attorneys in Warsaw, together with three companions.
Hogan Lovells’ newest monetary outcomes noticed a ten% improve in world income to $2.68bn, whereas revenue per fairness associate (PEP) rose 20% to $2.74m. In an interview with LB, Zaldivar attributed this success to the agency’s clear worldwide technique with a concentrate on increase within the US.
When requested beforehand concerning the potential of a merger with a US agency following the agency’s earlier talks with Shearman & Sterling, Zaldivar instructed LB: ‘We shouldn’t have ongoing merger conversations with anybody, however we anticipate being fairly engaging in a market the place specialists are predicting consolidation. If a weaker model desires to be a part of a world powerhouse and profit from the success, we have now constantly skilled for the previous 4 years, then we’re open for enterprise, and we’ll take your name.’
In the identical interview Zaldivar additionally highlighted Europe as a key driver of development. Latest exercise on the continent features a spate of personal fairness hires in Germany, with the agency bringing over Kirkland associate David Huthmacher in Munich and EY world transaction regulation observe head Jan Phillipp Feigen and associate Maximilian Menges in Hamburg. Additionally in Germany this month, Hogan Lovells employed Freshfields associate Mesut Korkmaz into its Düsseldorf M&A workforce.
Zaldivar concluded: ‘We’re deeply grateful to our colleagues in Johannesburg, Sydney and Warsaw for all their contributions to the agency and we’re dedicated to supporting them by way of this course of.’
elisha.juttla@legalbusiness.co.uk
