Hogan Lovells financial results for calendar year 2019

• Across our regions, the Americas represented approximately 50% of total billings, UK and Continental Europe together 43%, and Asia Pacific and the Middle East 7%.

• In terms of our five global practice groups, Corporate represented approximately 29% of total billings, LAE 29%, Global Regulatory 19%, Finance 13%, and IPMT 10%.

Item	US$ - FY2019	US$ - FY2018	% change 2018-2019	GBP FY 2019	GBP FY 2018	GBP % change 2019 v 2018
Total global revenue	US$2,246m	US$2,119m	6%	£1,755m	£1,596m	10.0%
Profit per equity partner	US$1,507,100	US$1,381,200	9.1%	£1,177,000	£1,035,000	13.7%
Revenue per lawyer	US$850,000	US$804,000	5.8%	£664,000	£605,000	9.7%

According to Hogan Lovells CEO Steve Immelt:

"We have continued on our path of consistent and profitable growth with a revenue increase of 6% in 2019, as well as higher increases in revenue per lawyer and profits per equity partner.

“Looking at our work throughout the year there is a consistent pattern appearing in terms of it reflecting on the strength of our presence in particular industry sectors such as financial institutions, life sciences, technology, media, and telecoms, and automotive. At the same time we saw a strong performance in areas such as investigations and disputes, anti-trust, and intellectual property.

“Our strategy of focusing on key industry sectors, having a substantive global reach in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and our strength in being able to combine a market-leading regulatory capability with our other practice areas is recognized by clients as a powerful force and by laterals as an attractive place to build their careers.

“We have sought to grow and develop our own talent at the partner level. At the start of 2020 we made 29 promotions to partner level and we have one of the strongest female partnerships of any major law firm with women making up 26% of the overall partner population.”

Examples of major client engagements handled during the course of the year include:

Corporate

• Industrial Property Trust, Inc. in its US$3.99 billion cash merger transaction with Prologis, Inc., the global leader in logistics real estate.
• Endemol Shine Group on its sale by private equity firm Apollo Global Management and The Walt Disney Company to Banijay Group, the French TV production group partially owned by Vivendi.
• VICI Properties on its US$3.2bn partnership with Eldorado Resorts and VICI’s concurrent US$2.47bn equity offering, the largest REIT follow-on offering in history
• Daimler Group on the global reorganization of its worldwide business into three divisions: Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans, Daimler Trucks & Buses and Daimler Mobility.
• ITV plc on its joint venture with the BBC to create streaming service “Britbox”.
• LabCorp, a global life sciences company, in an offering of over US$1 billion principal amount of senior notes and a concurrent cash tender offer for up to US$300 million principal amount of outstanding notes.
• Sojitz on its investment in the Yunlin offshore wind farm project.

Finance

• Advised the lenders (JBIC, NEXI, MUFG, SMBC, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, DBS Bank, OCBC and Bank of China) on the US$2 billion financing of Van Phong 1 BOT power project in Vietnam. Once completed, this will be one of the largest IPP projects in Vietnam.
• Volkswagen Leasing GmbH in the first public STS securitization transaction, a transaction with a volume of around €1 billion.
• Representing the MexCAT ad hoc bondholder group in respect of the restructuring of US$6bn of bonds issued by the Mexico City Airport Trust, one of the largest ever Latin American structured finance bond issuances.
• An international syndicate of banks on the US$1 billion debt financing of the acquisition of Bellamy’s Organic, one of Australia’s largest producers of high quality infant milk formula, by China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited.
• Advised Cassa depositi e prestiti S.p.A. (Cdp) on the issue of a new "Social Bond" for a nominal amount of €750 million, reserved to institutional investors.

Litigation, Arbitration, and Employment

• Secured a Court of Appeal victory PrivatBank in a US$1.9bn fraud case against its former shareholders, Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb - the ruling protects pharmaceutical companies from costly and unwarranted discovery in product liability cases that conflict with federal requirements and protects defendants’ rights to a federal forum in cases brought between diverse parties.
• Equifax: we secured a settlement with a slew of federal, state and consumer claims stemming from a breach that exposed Social Security numbers and other personal data for nearly 150 million people. The settlement is the largest ever reached by a company after a data breach.
• Taruta: our team are advising Sergiy Taruta and Dargamo Holdings in an ongoing £2.7bn case at London's commercial court, following one of the largest transactions in Ukrainian history.
• Recently took over at the enforcement stage of Kazakhstan Kagazy v Zhunus & Ors, a case that concerns one of Central Asia’s largest paper and packaging manufacturers.
• Secured a landmark arbitral award for the Slovak Republic against Dutch insurer Achmea.
• Google: a cross-practice, cross-jurisdictional team secured the significant ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling for Google. The European Court of Justice has ruled that the ‘right to be forgotten’ does not extend beyond the borders of the European Union. This landmark ruling dictates that search engine operators face no obligation to remove information outside of the 28-country zone.   

Global regulatory

• On behalf of Equifax, we achieved a first-of-its kind global settlement in the data security arena that allowed the company to resolve a consumer class action and the investigations of two federal agencies (the FTC and CFPB) and multiple states.
• We are among the firms representing T-Mobile in its bid to receive regulatory approvals necessary to complete its purchase of Sprint, a US$26.5bn deal.
• We advised IBM on the worldwide antitrust merger clearance aspects of its acquisition for US$34bn of open source software Red Hat Inc. This high-profile, transformative deal was the largest in IBM's history and the biggest pure software deal in history.
• We advise the Railway Supply Institute’s Committee on Tank Cars (RSI) as its members undertake an extensive tank car modification program to comply with the new rules that govern the US$ multi-billion crude-by-rail transport industry in North America.

IP, Media & Technology

• Advised Novartis on its strategic artificial intelligence and data-science collaboration with Microsoft as it founded the Novartis AI Innovation Lab.
• Secured a high-profile victory for LEGO in a complex copyright, trademark and unfair competition case against LEPIN in China.
• Secured a UK Court of Appeal win for Olaplex, an innovative Californian start-up, in a patent infringement case against L’Oréal.
• Representing Merck & Co., Inc. in multi-jurisdiction court litigation combined with ICANN procedures with regard to the co-existence globally in the physical and online worlds of MERCK and .MERCK.

Citizenship/Pro Bono

• Represented those affected by the 2017 London terror attacks in the Westminster inquest, London Bridge inquest, and in the ongoing public inquiry into the Manchester arena attack.
• Advising social enterprises across Europe and supporting organizations that encourage female entrepreneurship in the U.S., Australia, and throughout Latin America.
• Completed the firm’s three-year shared value partnership with social enterprise Barefoot College, aiming to bring clean, renewable light to 200,000 people in 35 countries through the Barefoot solar mamas.

Diversity & Inclusion

• (Americas) We support our people through 28 regional diversity networks, including the U.S. National Diversity Committee, regional diversity committees, regional women’s initiatives, national affinity groups (which include African-American, Agility, Asian-Pacific American, Hispanic, LGBT+, Middle Eastern-North African, and Military), and regional affinity groups. We also adopted the Mansfield Rule, which requires the firm to have at least 30 percent women, minority, and LGBT+ lawyers in candidate pools or senior leadership positions, in lateral recruiting, and in certain business development activities.
• (UK) We are proud to be a founding signatory of the Mindful Business Charter, which was created to remove unnecessary sources of workplace stress and promote better health and wellbeing in the legal community. This complements the firm’s existing wellbeing program, which covers financial, mental, social, and physical wellbeing.
• (Asia Pacific and Middle East) We regularly host events to engage our clients and communities in D&I discussions. In Dubai, we have run a series of cultural heritage events covering Ramadan, St. Patrick’s Day, Diwali, and Lebanese Independence Day. Our annual Middle East Women in Business Dinner brings together our women partners and clients to discuss challenges and opportunities specific to their work surroundings, and share inspiring stories of female leadership and best practices for creating a truly inclusive culture and workforce.
• (Continental Europe) The Pride+ live speaker series, developed by our CE LGBT+ Network, has brought recognized international leaders, activists, and experts right to the desks of our 2,400 people in Europe. Speakers have included the First Gentleman of Luxembourg, Civil Rights Defenders from Stockholm, and the only openly gay Western journalist to work in the Middle East.

The firm made 29 partner promotions and 56 promotions to counsel on 1 January 2020, and 40 lateral partner hires globally during 2019.