The three offices will close in the coming months, the firm said.

The loss of the Sydney office marks the second office closure in Australia by Hogan Lovells within two years, having shuttered its Perth operations in October 2022.

Now, with its Sydney operations winding up, the global firm will no longer have a presence Down Under.

In conversation with Lawyers Weekly, a spokesperson for Hogan Lovells noted the firm’s Sydney office comprised 22 lawyers, including six partners, as well as 14 support staff.

VIEW ALL

The spokesperson further said that there are “no confirmed plans” to relocate the lawyers; however, “we are consulting on options”.

On the question of whether the shutting of the Sydney office marks a full withdrawal by Hogan Lovells from Australia, the spokesperson responded in the affirmative but added that “we already have ties to firms in the region working with our clients, and will continue to do some work related to Australia from our other offices”.

A strategic closing of 3 global offices

In the firm’s statement, Hogan Lovells chief executive Miguel Zaldivar said: “As a leading global law firm, we are focused on ensuring that we are present in strategic markets where our clients look to us for support and sophisticated, high-end work.

“Closing these three offices was a difficult decision, but one that was needed so that we can continue our path to achieve transformational growth and drive greater success – particularly in London, New York, California, Texas, Washington, D.C., and key international markets.

“This is part of our ambitious vision and strategic approach to continue to grow as a financially integrated global firm.”

Zaldivar continued: “We are confident in our strong global strategy and offering across our key practice groups and sectors and will continue to serve our clients in the markets that are most critical to their success.

“We are deeply grateful to our colleagues in Johannesburg, Sydney, and Warsaw for all their contributions to the firm, and we are committed to supporting them through this process.”

Hogan Lovells is not the only global law firm to exit Johannesburg this fortnight – as reported earlier this week, A&O Shearman is embarking on what it called post-merger strategic changes, which will result in a predicted 10 per cent reduction in its partner numbers worldwide during this financial year.

In addition, that global firm is winding down its consulting arm and withdrawing from Johannesburg by the end of the calendar year.

The firm’s history Down Under

Hogan Lovells launched in Australia in 2015 under the leadership of Tim and Nicky Lester.

Back then, Patrick Sherrington (who was regional managing partner for Asia and the Middle East) said the firm had no intention of becoming a full-service domestic law firm but instead would use the offices in Sydney and Perth to “deepen [its] connectivity” with the APAC market.

“We did not think the Australian market was underserved,” Sherrington said at the time.

“Quite the contrary; we’ve long recognised the legal market is extremely well-served, so whilst we see the importance of it from a global perspective, we did not see it as imperative or even desirable to become a major domestic law firm in Australia.

“… We’ll be using our presence in Australia to develop our practice, particularly around our cross-border trade flows.

“We’ll be seeking to grow our energy, natural resources and infrastructure sector and looking for opportunities for Australian entities looking to invest not only in Asia but Africa, as well as our US clients investing in Australia.”

In 2018, Scott Harris took over the helm as the managing partner for Hogan Lovells Australia. He said, at the time that his appointment became public in late 2017, that the global firm’s practice Down Under “is strong and has grown tremendously quickly”.

“I am very excited about the opportunity to help with the further growth of our presence in the market and build on all that we have achieved to date,” he said.

Then, in October 2022, Hogan Lovells resolved to close its operations in the West Australian capital, after it was revealed that Perth-based partner Matthew Johnson was defecting to rival law firm Allen & Overy (now A&O Shearman), where he would co-lead that firm’s global mining sector.

When asked by Lawyers Weekly at the time whether the firm had plans to eventually reopen in Perth or in any other Australian state, Hogan Lovells said: “Our plans are to focus on operating our Australia business from a consolidated base in Sydney. We will continue to grow our Sydney operations, including headcount, in line with future client demand.

“Our focus continues to be on supporting corporations, financial institutions and governments on corporate and finance transactions, including corporate/M&A, banking and finance, funding, capital markets, private equity and venture capital.”

According to the firm’s website, Hogan Lovells has over 2,800 lawyers across six continents.