Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader announce massive law firm merger
Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft have announced a merger that creates one of the largest law firms in the world.
On Thursday, both firms released statements confirming their intent to join forces. According to both statements, the new firm will be known as Hogan Lovells Cadwalader and would boast a combined revenue in excess of $3.6 billion, as well as over 3,000 attorneys throughout the world.
“Clients are increasingly looking for law firms with deep sector expertise and broad global reach to advise on their most complex mandates around the world,” said Miguel A. Zaldivar Jr., the CEO at Hogan Lovells, in the statement. “Cadwalader, a premier Wall Street institution, brings top of the market finance capabilities, which combined with Hogan Lovells’ powerful global platform, expands our abilities to comprehensively advise clients at a time when cross-border investment is increasingly driving growth in key sectors—including finance, energy, technology, life sciences and others.”
Zaldivar, who will be the CEO of the combined firm, told the Financial Times that the days of “smaller firms teaming up” was “passing.”
He added that Hogan Lovells, a firm that was born out of a 2010 merger between U.K.-based Lovells and Washington, D.C.-headquartered Hogan & Hartson, was looking at “getting New York right.”
According to Law.com, the firms have somewhat similar numbers when it comes to revenue per lawyer and profits per equity partner. However, in 2024, Hogan Lovells brought in more than four times as much revenue as Cadwalader did.
The deal comes during a tumultuous time for Cadwalader. The firm was one of several in the Am Law world that made a deal with President Donald Trump to avoid being targeted by his executive orders.
According to reports, this led to a large number of departures, including a 37-lawyer move from Cadwalader to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in October. Despite that, Pat Quinn, the co-managing partner at Cadwalader, told the Financial Times that the firm just had its second-ever strongest year in terms of revenue and had hired more than 95 lawyers, including 10 partners.
The tie-up is expected to be finalized by summer 2026.
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