Hogan Lovells’ marriage has settled down but can the union blossom into global power couple?

As the Hogan Lovells union matures, Matthew Field and Victoria Young assess the global challenger’s prospects

As partners in a 2010 transatlantic marriage, the first few years of Hogan Lovells’ nuptials were not without issues. The proposition that a merger-of-equals between a major UK and a US law firm would fire growth and renew ambition was found wanting as the pair became caught up in complex integration. It also soon became apparent that – despite being initially billed as two institutions with much in common – a substantial cultural gap between Lovells and the more thrusting Washington DC-bred Hogan & Hartson was complicating its post-merger relaunch.