Hogan Lovells

Hogan Lovells was formed in 2010 from the merger of UK law firm Lovells and Washington DC-based firm Hogan & Hartson. The original UK firm Lovells dates back to 1899 and in the pre-magic circle era of the 1980s and 1990s it was one of the nine or so leading City practices. At its base it is a corporate and commercial firm although it has a significant disputes team as well.

The firm was one of the first major City players to have a female managing partner, Lesley MacDonagh, who served in that capacity between 1994 and 2004. Alongside senior partner Andrew Walker she pressed on with a programme of expansion. Lovells doubled in size between 1994 and 2001, due mostly to its mergers with German firm Boesebeck Droste, French outfit Siméon et Associés and Dutch firm Ekelmans Den Hollander. The firm also moved into its current London premises on Holborn Viaduct in 2002.

The next big figure in Lovells’ history was corporate insurance partner John Young, who was elected senior partner in 2004. He ousted Walker in a surprise result and was seen as a wild card choice on the part of the partnership. A larger-than-life figure, he and new managing partner David Harris would eventually lead the firm into its 2010 merger with Washington DC-based firm Hogan & Hartson, and the formation of Hogan Lovells.

Billed as a merger of equals, the merged Hogan Lovells was received with surprisingly little cynicism by observers on both sides of the Atlantic. The change from lockstep to a more merit-based system caused some worried rumblings from UK partners but overall the tie-up has generally been considered one of the more successful transatlantic unions.

Harris and Young initially became co-CEO and co-chair of the new firm alongside their American counterparts, but they were eventually replaced by a sole CEO and chair (Steve Immelt from the US side of the business and Nicholas Cheffings from the UK side). Cheffings was replaced by Hamburg-based partner Leopold von Gerlach in 2018 meaning for the first time there was no UK lawyer in the top two roles at Hogan Lovells.

	Managing partner	Senior partner
1994	Lesley MacDonagh
1996		Andrew Walker
2004	David Harris	John Young
	CEO	Chair
2010	David Harris & Warren Gorrell	John Young & Claudette Christian
2012		Nicholas Cheffings
2014	Steve Immelt
2018		Leopold von Gerlach
2020	Miguel Zaldivar
2021		Marie-Aimée de Dampierre