One and a half years since law firms Hogan & Hartson and Lovells announced they would combine to form Hogan Lovells, Asia managing partner Crispin Rapinet spoke about how lawyers from the two legacy firms have capitalised on the expertise of leading law firms in the Asia Pacific region. Lawyers at the firm have yielded increasing interest from clients in areas including IP law, financial institutions, infrastructure, life sciences and TMT work and a number have remained loyal to the combined firm, Rapinet offers some reasons why.
According to Rapinet, lawyers wanted to know just what the merger would mean for the firm as a whole, rather than themselves as an individual. “It was the first transatlantic merger of equals, something of a revolution in the legal market, and the proposition held a good deal of attraction for our lawyers, not least in Asia,” he said. For example the merging of both firms’ IP law practices in Japan has led lawyers working there to describe the practice as ‘several steps ahead of the competition’ since the merger and Rapinet also says the fee earners take advantage of the fact they have a full service offering in Asia.
The merger proposition led a number to question the deeper implications for the combined firm and Rapinet credits the cultural similarities between the firms as instrumental in the eventual success of the merger. Though some defections occurred prior to the merger, Hogan Lovells boasts well over 2 500 lawyers worldwide.
The other aspect that was important for those who stayed through the merger was the communication program, which Rapinet described as ‘intensive’, that sought to answer questions from internal staff members. “There was little mystery about what was needed to be done at a practical level and everyone from both legacy firms was encouraged to get involved in the process where they could,” he added. Hong Kong IP partner Gabriela Kennedy also described how seamless the actually process of integration was, adding that everything from e-mail to client files and communications systems was already functioning from the day the firm became Hogan Lovells.