Hogan Lovells achieves second best financial results on record for Calendar Year / Financial Year 2022

Key global figures:

Global (In US$)	FY 2020	FY 2021	FY 2022
Total global revenue	US$2,308m	US$2,606m	US$2,432m
Profits per equity partner	US$1,971,000	US$2,482,000	US$2,278,000
Revenue per lawyer	US$884,000	US$1,029,000	US$977,000

 

Global (In GBP)	FY 2020	FY 2021	FY 2022
Total global revenue	£1,796m	£1,895m	£1,971m
Profits per equity partner	£1,536,000	£1,805,000	£1,846,000
Revenue per lawyer	£688,000	£748,000	£792,000

• Across our regions, the Americas represented approximately 48% of total billings, EMEA 46%, and Asia-Pacific 6%.
• In terms of our three global practice groups, Corporate & Finance represented approximately 40% of total billings, Global Regulatory & Intellectual Property, Media and Technology (IPMT) 32%, and Disputes 28%.
• The percentage difference in global revenue from FY 2021 to FY 2022 (-6.7% as measured in US$/+4% as measured in GBP) reflected a number of challenges the firm faced in 2022.

According to Hogan Lovells CEO Miguel Zaldivar:

“Despite significant global economic headwinds, the firm has achieved strong financial results. Our global revenue figure of $2.4 billion is the second highest in the firm’s history, exceeding our revenue from 2020. While 2021 was a historically high year for the firm and our industry, looking at our revenue in 2022 in comparison with prior years demonstrates our continued growth and success.

“Like many in the legal industry, our firm faced challenges in 2022 that had an impact on our global revenue. These challenges include the war in Ukraine, continuing impacts of COVID-19, unprecedented inflation levels and currency devaluation of the British Sterling and Euro, and a drop in legal services globally.

“Though the economic uncertainty led to a decline in transactional work, particularly in the first half of 2022, we saw this work pick up during the second half of the year. For example, we represented Duke Realty Corporation on its approximately US$23 billion combination with Prologis Inc., believed to be the largest REIT M&A transaction in history.

“The strong balance between our practice groups provided crucial ballast helping us to weather the economic upheaval. Our leading global disputes work included the representation of Citibank in an appellate victory in one of the most widely watched cases in the financial services sector. On the regulatory front, we secured a win for UnitedHealth in a high profile antitrust case.

“Long recognized for our strengths in our core industry sectors—financial institutions, life sciences, technology, media and telecoms, mobility, and energy—we have continued to deepen and broaden our client relationships in these important sectors.

Focus on talent creates stability and leads to growth.

“Our financial performance demonstrates our firm’s stability–and our strong global brand continues to attract top talent across our strategic markets. The key to our success is our talent. We are recognized as a great place to work in the global legal industry with record levels of partner retention.

“We have world class career offerings for lawyers and business services professionals, founded on our collaborative culture, with a focus on ensuring our people feel they belong and are motivated to engage and excel. We work to foster this culture through innovative programs such as our recently launched HL passport, which allows lawyers in the earlier stages of their careers to expand their professional opportunities by applying to work in Hogan Lovells offices around the world.

Delivering on our Responsible Business and DEI commitments are priorities.

“Our commitments to DEI and operating a Responsible Business are strategic priorities for the firm. This year, we announced the promotion of 38 new partners and 77 new counsel. I was pleased that 58% of this year’s new partner cohort are women, the highest percentage in the firm’s history. Additionally, 24% of our new partners identify as racially/ethnically diverse or LGBTQ+, demonstrating our commitment to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of our diverse talent.

“We continue to do important work on behalf of our pro bono clients, consistent with our firm’s deep roots as a leader in pro bono work. For example, we obtained urgent interim measures from the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of two British nationals who were sentenced to death in Russian-occupied Ukraine. They were subsequently released. And we are representing parties in one of the most widely watched voting rights cases in the U.S., including arguing the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Examples of major client matters handled during the course of 2022 include:

Corporate & Finance

• Duke Realty Corporation on its approximately US$23 billion combination with Prologis Inc., a publicly listed global leader in logistics real estate. We believe this transaction is the largest REIT M&A transaction in history.
• Shaftesbury PLC in its all-share merger with Capital & Counties Properties PLC, a UK public M&A process. The combined group (to be named Shaftesbury Capital PLC) will create a leading mixed-use central London REIT, with a combined portfolio valued at approximately £5bn.
• Walton-Penner family in its acquisition of the NFL’s Denver Broncos in a record-setting sports franchise deal, reportedly for $4.65 billion, successfully navigating a competitive auction process with multiple bidders.
• Flipkart Private Limited on a number of deals including its US$3.6bn funding to accelerate the growth of the consumer internet ecosystem in India, and very recently advised PhonePe on its separation of ownership from Flipkart.
• Sova Capital acting for administrators of FCA regulated investment bank, with US$3bn of AUM, in special administration.
• EFIC1, a Euronext Amsterdam listed SPAC, on its business combination with leading digital entertainment and media platform Azerion, at an enterprise value of €1.3bn. The deal is one of the largest de-SPAC transactions in Europe, the third ever in Amsterdam.
• The Artémis Group, the Pinault family's holding company, on the merger of Artémis Domaines with Maisons & Domaines Henriot.
• International Finance Corporation on 1) the first social bond issued in the healthcare sector in the Philippines; 2) on its partnership with CapitaLand Ascott Trust (CLAS) in connection with CLAS’s issuance of a 16.5 billion yen (S$157.4 million) sustainability-linked bond (Bond).
• SVEVIND on reaching another milestone in the development and implementation of one of the world's largest hydrogen projects.
• Apollo on the formation of an inventory financing program and subsequently on ongoing inventory transactions.

Disputes

• Citibank in an appellate victory in one of the most widely watched cases in the financial services sector. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously held that the recipients of $500 million mistakenly wired by Citibank could not assert New York’s “discharge for value” defense to keep the money.
• Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) in a high profile, long running case against the Serious Fraud Office and former Dechert partner Neil Gerrard. Following a 47-day trial, a judge in the Commercial Court in London made unprecedented findings of “extraordinary” and “almost unimaginable” misconduct by ENRC’s former solicitor, Neil Gerrard, and “bad faith opportunism” by three former SFO officers.
• Google in a number of victorious court cases in Italy following the suspension of videos which were found to be in clear violation of YouTube’s policies against COVID-19 disinformation.
• Viatris in a multidistrict antitrust litigation involving state attorneys general that affects the entire generic drug industry. In June 2022, the judge overseeing the litigation granted our motion to dismiss the states’ federal antitrust claims for disgorgement, holding, in a matter of first impression, that recent Supreme Court precedent precludes such relief.
• Investors Exchange LLC as an intervenor in a widely followed, high-profile regulatory dispute between Citadel Securities and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Citadel, a prominent high-frequency trading firm, challenged an SEC order permitting IEX to introduce a new and innovative order type. Following an oral argument that received over 100,000 views on YouTube and spawned its own Reddit thread, the DC Circuit unanimously upheld the order type, garnering the appellate team “Litigator of the Week” from Am Law’s Litigation Daily.
• The London Metal Exchange (LME) in an important court victory on the application by AQR Capital Management and other investment funds which sought a Norwich Pharmacal order (a rare form of court order for the disclosure of documents or information) and/or pre-action disclosure against the LME. The application was dismissed in its entirety and the LME was awarded its costs.
• PrivatBank in a US$4 billion+ (inclusive of interest) fraud case against its former shareholders, Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov.
• SSK Ingeniería y Construcción SAC in securing before both the Federal Court and the Court of Appeals a $40 million arbitral award in an oil refinery construction dispute, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the lower court’s judgment confirming the arbitral award.
• CPI Property Group (CPIPG) and its majority shareholder, Radovan Vitek, in a successful appeal at the Second Circuit of an action brought by New York hedge fund Kingstown Capital Management, L.P. and European investors over OROCO Property Group, S.A., a real estate development company based in Luxembourg seeking damages in excess of US$1 billion.
• TC Energy in a settlement with Mexican state utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) to develop a US$4.5 billion offshore natural gas pipeline. We also helped TC Energy settle two LCIA arbitrations relating to existing onshore pipeline disputes.

Global Regulatory & Intellectual Property, Media, and Technology (IPMT)

• UnitedHealth, the largest health insurer in the U.S., in securing a high-profile win in an antitrust case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice over its proposed US$13.8 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare, a medical data and technology group.
• BMW in EU car emissions cartel proceedings, one of the most extensive EU antitrust proceedings in recent years.
• Huhtamaki in a precedent-setting case for the application of EU rules on access to documents in state aid and competition law proceedings.
• Canada and its solar industry, in the second-ever State v. State trade dispute commenced under the 2020 U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and included the first guarantee of tariff-free solar panel imports from Canada.
• ZTE in a major victory releasing the Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company from a five-year probation term, which was originally imposed in 2017 for violations of U.S. sanctions and export controls. The firm also continues to represent ZTE in implementing its related 10-year civil settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce.
• T-Mobile in its successful participation in the FCC’s 3.45-55 GHz spectrum auction, in which it acquired mid-band 5G spectrum worth US$2.9 billion.
• Drone manufacturer Matternet, in securing the first-ever standard type certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a drone.
• General Electric in a major victory relating to a patent infringement trial in the UK brought by Siemens Gamesa. At issue was GE’s Haliade-X offshore wind turbine, which is currently being produced to be used in what will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm located on Dogger Bank.
• OPPO in its ongoing dispute over the terms of a FRAND license of Nokia’s patent portfolio.
• PPG Industries in a unanimous jury verdict for the global supplier of paints and coatings in a multi-year patent infringement dispute against Sherwin-Williams Co. over beverage can coatings. During a nearly two-week trial in Pittsburgh, Hogan Lovells helped PPG prove that it had invented and patented the technology more than a decade before Sherwin-Williams claimed to have done.

ESG

• Our ESG Practice Group comprises more than 500 lawyers in five subpractices that represent the pillars of ESG: Environmental, Energy Transition, Sustainable Finance & Investment, Social, and Governance & Corporate.
• Sustainable Finance & Investment - The Central America Bottling Corporation, CBC Bottling Holdco, S.L., and Beliv Holdco, S.L., as co-issuers of US$ 1.1 billion in Senior Guaranteed Sustainability-Linked Notes, the first dollar-denominated sustainability-linked bond in the international markets from a bottling company in the Americas.
• Sustainable Finance and Investment - The joint lead managers on an aggregate of more than US$11.15 billion in debt offerings for Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank (Rentenbank), a development bank for the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and food industries in Germany, including SEK and CAD-denominated green bond offerings involving US Regulation S.
• Energy Transition - The Crown Estate on the award of landmark agreements for the development of six fixed offshore wind projects. The completion marks the culmination of a project creates the opportunity to deliver renewable electricity for more than 7 million homes, through the production of nearly 8GW of renewable energy and is a significant step in the UK’s response to climate change.
• Energy Transition - We represent Berkshire Hathaway Energy in a project to deploy of the first-of-a-kind TerraPower reactor at retired Berkshire Hathaway coal plants. The project features a 345 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor that can boost the system’s output to the equivalent of the energy required to power around 400,000 homes.
• Governance - Papa John’s on its sustainability report, ESG and board matters, executive officer transitions, shareholder engagement, and SEC disclosure related to Covid-19 impacts, supply chain issues, inflation, and the impacts of the war in Ukraine.
• Environment - We are founder members of the Taskforce on Nature Related Financial Disclosure, the new “sister” to the pivotal Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), demonstrating our own, personal commitment to ESG, which has been in place for over 10 years.
• Environment - Our Social Impact practice HL Business & Sustainable Enterprise (HL BaSE) advises on projects that are making a tangible, positive difference to the environment and Biodiversity.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Responsible Business

• Promotions - 58% of this year’s new partner cohort are women, the highest percentage in the firm’s history, which reflects the strides we have made in the advancement of women at the firm. Additionally, 24% of our new partners and 27% of our new counsel identify as racially/ethnically diverse or LGBTQ+, demonstrating our commitment to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of our diverse talent.
• Continuing on our work to build an inclusive culture, this year we are focused on launching educational sessions regarding interactional bias (aka microaggressions) in the workplace, how they show up, their impact and ways to interrupt them.
• Valuing DEI means valuing the time people spend on supporting DEI within our firm and legal profession, in the U.S. lawyers are permitted to count up to 50 DEI hours toward their bonuses. Across the globe, we have similar policies that align with their overall billable hours requirements.
• Advancement is critical toward supporting our people and meeting our partnership goals. This requires formal mentorship and sponsorship programs tailored toward the needs of our individuals.
  • In the Americas, our underrepresented lawyers are assigned a practice area partner sponsor to support their development and access to opportunities and key stakeholders.
  • Across our regions, similar programs have been implemented to address the unique diversity challenges of their regions.
  • To better understand the challenges, in the UK, we were the first law firm to partner with FLAIR, to measure and progress racial equity. We will use these results to inform future programming and practices to support our people.
• Last year we launched our Global Ability Inclusion Network and kicked off 2023 with an Inclusion Allies workshop. With more than 40+ networks around the globe, our Diversity Network focuses on initiatives that promote inclusion within their regions. In APAC, our Inclusion Allies continue to drive tangible inclusive action.

Sustainability

• We are committed to leading inclusive and sustainable growth and contributing to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• We are a signatory to UN Business Ambition 1.5˚C and Race to Zero, which commit us to develop and implement Science Based Targets and reduce our carbon emissions.
• We have submitted our GHG emissions reductions targets to the Science Based Targets initiative and these include a near term target of a 90% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 by 2030 and a Net Zero target of 2050 for all three scopes.
• Since we launched our revised sustainability plan in 2021, we have been updating our travel, energy, and real estate policies to reduce carbon emissions. We reported to Carbon Disclosure Project for the first time and achieved a ‘B’ rating.
• We purchased credits for the firm to offset our travel emissions for 2019, 2020 and 2021 and will be offsetting our Scope 1 & 2 emissions from 2022.
• 66% of our footprint (over 1.5M rentable square feet) have LEED, BREAM or other “green” certification. New certifications have also been achieved in Beijing, Frankfurt, Jakarta and Shanghai.
• We have Sustainability Stewards in each office worldwide, led by three regional leads who collect data for reporting requirements. They also work with office and regional sustainability committees to effect change on the ground.
• We provide internal education and training about sustainability and the steps our people can take to make a difference.
• We advise clients on sustainable business strategies, provide pro bono legal advice and skilled volunteering to make a difference outside our firm.
• We are founding members of the Legal Sustainability Alliance and the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance.

Pro Bono

• Globally the firm engaged in a total of 154,490 hours of pro bono work in 2022.
• Obtained urgent interim measures from the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of two British nationals who were sentenced to death in Russian-occupied Ukraine. They were subsequently released.
• Representing respondents in one of the most widely watched voting rights cases in the U.S., Moore v. Harper. Partner Neal Katyal argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of parties seeking to protect the state courts’ ability to review redistricting efforts by the state legislature.
• Approximately 40 lawyers registered to assist Ukrainians with Temporary Protected Status applications, and more than 200 lawyers volunteered to help Afghans fleeing the Taliban.
• In a case of the transnational human trafficking across Europe, secured compensation orders for survivors payable by the perpetrators in the UK and Belgium. In the Belgian litigation, the compensation is rare and currently at appeal in the Belgian Court of Appeal.
• Filed an amicus brief on behalf of Brady, Team Enough, Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and March For Our Lives Action Fund, in support of the constitutionality of the District of Columbia’s ban on firearms on the Metro transit system.
• Globally supported 260 social enterprises addressing the UN Sustainable Development goals from Mexico to Singapore with free legal advice including Drinkwell, Bangladesh being safe water to people across South Asia.
• Successfully secured and defended crucial protections for tenants of Front Street Apartments, an affordable housing complex in Hawai’i. The Ninth Circuit dismissed an appeal by the developer, confirming a lower court ruling obtained by our colleagues that the developer could not unilaterally end rent restrictions.
• Opened a new community cost of living legal advice service in West London.

Community Investment and Fundraising Partnerships

• Pro bono and financial support to the Rewilding project a pioneering nature conservation initiative across Europe to transform vast land areas into wild nature.
• We collaborated with The Economist Educational Foundation to create teaching resources focused on climate change, rewilding, and ongoing projects, with its pro bono clients including Snowchange Cooperative, Rewilding Europe and the firm’s dedicated UK charity partner, The Wildlife Trusts.
• We launched the Amani project with Goldman Sachs, a six-month soft skills and mentoring program for 16-18-year-olds of African and Caribbean heritage who are worthy of a second chance. It was inspired by the personal transformation of award-winning youth coach, filmmaker and knife attack survivor, Amani Simpson.
• Through a collaborative initiative with Caritas and our client Motel One, we funded 500 overnight room stays for Ukrainian refugees at the Motel One Bellevue in Berlin for people who had made their way to Germany. We also collaborated with our client Flix to help evacuate vulnerable people from Ukraine facing particular challenges and barriers to flee the country.
• We commenced a further three-year funding program with Finland’s Snowchange Cooperative, raising €114,000 to protect Europe’s only remaining boreal forest, which supports healthy ecosystems and preserves the Sami people’s cultural heritage in the Arctic North.
• We commenced a three-year, £90,000 funding program to establish a cost of living clinic in West London with dedicated qualified lawyers, in addition to annual charitable investments and financing for free legal advice through the London Legal Support Trust.
• Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the firm provided funding to our Warsaw office to spend on items urgently needed on the ground to support Ukrainian refugees.