‘Our people are the business: 100% of the revenue comes from them. I have to give them a good return on their investment, but I also have to give them a good experience. Cambridge is part of that’
Hogan Lovells Cadwalader CEO Miguel Zaldivar has gone back to university this week. He’s part of a 30-strong group of partners the firm has sent to Cambridge Judge Business School to take part in a new programme to develop the merged firm’s next generation of leaders.
The post-combination timing is intentional – as is signing up to a new programme with Cambridge, after legacy Hogan Lovells previously worked with Oxford in the past.
As Zaldivar continues to bed in the biggest ever law firm merger, he wants to bring current and emerging leaders from both legacy firms together to take part in a brand new programme built around the future of the combined business in a challenging market.
‘Our people are the business – I have to give them a good experience’
Sixty partners will take part over two intakes this year, with the programme then set to include 30 each year.
The year-long course includes on-site weeks at Cambridge alongside virtual classes, leadership assessments and personal coaching, with sessions covering everything from strategy, to driving performance and improving, with a focus on aligning ideas and turning academic learning into tangible action.
‘We are a new firm and Cambridge brings tradition but also innovation,’ explains Zaldivar. ‘They’re very much into AI. They also have a strong focus on leadership. We’re bringing some of the most senior leaders of the firm, and then we’re handpicking the people who will take over from us. We cover leadership, health, and how to keep a high-performing culture, but doing it our way: being ambitious while also being supportive. We’ve put a lot of time into this, because we need everybody rowing in the same direction at the same speed.’
Professor Stelios Kavadias at Cambridge Judge Business School said: ‘Leadership is rarely about having all the answers; it is about creating the opportunity to step back, question assumptions and learn from the experience of others. Leading The Future has been designed to create that space, helping participants reflect on the challenges ahead while strengthening the relationships that underpin long-term success.’
The Cambridge programme is a key plank of Hogan Lovells Cadwaladers’ 5-2-1 strategy, with people and clients both sitting within the firm’s five strategic priorities alongside the firm, investments and society. It is a top-level addition to an existing training offering that already spans Momentum, for high potential senior associates or counsel, Transform, for new partners, and Ignite, which prepares existing partners for future leadership roles.
‘I need different levels of management to know exactly where the firm is going, but also to open it up so they can give me ideas,’ says Zaldivar. ‘We go through our 5-2-1 strategy in detail. We also look at the individuals so that we can build our leadership team with the right people: who’s a good numbers person, who’s a good tech person, who’s more into processes and more organised, who’s more sensitive around people if there’s a crisis, for example.’
Among the first intake is Paul Otto, Hogan Lovells Cadwalader’s Washington DC-based newly appointed managing partner for legal technology and AI, whose new role will see him help drive a new firmwide AI strategy and governance structure alongside new chief transformation officer Oliver Campbell and a new AI Board. The board will be tasked with evaluating ideas developed across the firm’s practice groups and sectors to assess opportunities to use AI to enhance service delivery to clients. It will also decide whether solutions should be built internally or sourced externally, allocate resources, and oversee their development and deployment.
‘I need different levels of management to know exactly where the firm is going so they can give me ideas’
The firm has also created a new commercial unit, with Bill Ferreira taking up the new post of managing partner – commercial unit and client delivery. The commercial unit will focus on pricing, legal project management, pitching, and client delivery, including AI offerings.
Talking about wider strategy Zaldivar says: ‘We’re integrating two firms, so we need full harmony. But more importantly, I want to leave the next generation a legacy of institutional clients. I benchmark our attrition and I’ve kept it very low but institutionalising clients protects the firm, particularly because there’s so much movement between firms right now.
‘If we institutionalise the clients, then when people leave, the clients tend to stay. So it’s defensive, but it’s also offensive, because if we build that asset then we’ll have such a strong client base. It’s part of my legacy to the next generation.’
