Shortly after the news broke that A&O Shearman would be shutting down its South Africa office, Hogan Lovells has announced it will close three global offices in the coming months.
The firm said closing the Warsaw, Sydney and Johannesburg offices is part of its strategic approach to focus on key markets such as London, New York, California, Texas, Washington DC, and other international hubs.
CEO Miguel Zaldivar (pictured) commented: ‘Closing these three offices was a difficult decision, but one that was needed so that we can continue our path to achieve transformational growth and drive greater success.’
‘As a leading global law firm, we are focused on ensuring that we are present in strategic markets where our clients look to us for support and sophisticated, high-end work,’ he continued.
The firm’s website shows 19 lawyers in Sydney, including seven partners. The office opened in 2015 alongside Hogan Lovells’ Perth office, which closed with the exit of global mining cohead Matthew Johnson to then-A&O in 2022. Johnson is currently a mining sector lead at A&O Shearman. Among the other Sydney partners is Asia-Pacific regional managing partner Lloyd Parker.
The Johannesburg office opened in 2014 and according to the firm’s website is home to nine lawyers, including three partners. The firm’s website shows 33 lawyers in Warsaw, including three partners.
Hogan Lovells’ latest financial results saw a 10% increase in global revenue to $2.68bn, while profit per equity partner (PEP) rose 20% to $2.74m. In an interview with LB, Zaldivar attributed this success to the firm’s clear international strategy with a focus on building up in the US.
When asked previously about the potential of a merger with a US firm following the firm’s previous talks with Shearman & Sterling, Zaldivar told LB: ‘We do not have ongoing merger conversations with anyone, but we anticipate being quite attractive in a market where experts are predicting consolidation. If a weaker brand wants to be part of a global powerhouse and benefit from the success, we have consistently experienced for the past four years, then we are open for business, and we’ll take your call.’
In the same interview Zaldivar also highlighted Europe as a key driver of growth. Recent activity on the continent includes a spate of private equity hires in Germany, with the firm bringing over Kirkland partner David Huthmacher in Munich and EY global transaction law practice head Jan Phillipp Feigen and partner Maximilian Menges in Hamburg. Also in Germany this month, Hogan Lovells hired Freshfields partner Mesut Korkmaz into its Düsseldorf M&A team.
Zaldivar concluded: ‘We are deeply grateful to our colleagues in Johannesburg, Sydney and Warsaw for all their contributions to the firm and we are committed to supporting them through this process.’
