Hogan Lovells Raises Almost £50k for Charity with Legally Ballroom Extravaganza

Feathers flew and sequins sparkled as the dancing divas and divos battled it out in one of the City's most spectacular charity events. Just over 300 Hogan Lovells staff and their clients, friends and family members packed the hotel in support of the black-tie event, which has so far raised almost £50,000 for Barefoot College, Hestia and Birmingham Children's Hospital, Hogan Lovells' three core charities.

The brave couples who, before being taught by professional dancers for 10 weeks, had no previous experience in ballroom dancing, donned sparkly shoes to perform an array of sets including the Tango, Quickstep, Samba and Jive in a bid to be crowned King and Queen of the dance floor.

Shirley Ballas, head judge of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, Ollie Hynd MBE, para swimmer and our very own Hogan Lovells Paralympic Ambassador, and Jermaine Berchie, champion of Legally Ballroom 5, judged the competition. Shirley Ballas also promoted the event and our charities on her Instagram. 

Gill McGreevy, Real Estate partner and Chair of the Hogan Lovells Touch committee, and Andrew Carey, Finance partner, compèred the evening, with Lauren Melachrino and Sanjay Dave (both associates from Real Estate) eventually winning in a hotly contested final.

Susan Bright, UK Managing Partner at Hogan Lovells, said: "We are delighted that so many of our people participated in Legally Ballroom this year, either by competing, buying tickets to the event or sponsoring colleagues, to raise money for our three enormously inspiring and deserving charities. The added bonus is that we have so much fun putting on events such as this, which follows on from our charity abseil in March where we raised approximately £15,000 for our Touch charities."

Hogan Lovells would like to thank the Leonardo Royal Hotel London St Paul's for their support in hosting the event.