Top British lawyers join Hogan Lovells after a hiring spree

Top British lawyers join Hogan Lovells after a hiring spree

The move is expected to bolster London M&A and disputes practices with five partners joining the US-British law firm

Following an unusual hiring spree, five prominent UK lawyers have joined Hogan Lovells' London office.

The purpose of such a large scale senior level hiring is to strengthen its corporate and litigation practices in the UK.

Hogan Lovells is a joint US-UK legal firm that came into existence following the 2010 merger of the American law firm of Hogan & Hartson and the British law firm Lovells.

White & Case's co-lead of London corporate practice Patrick Sarch, a prominent M&A lawyer is among those who have joined Hogan Lovells. Patrick Sarch will now co-head Hogan Lovells' London M&A practice alongside Ben Higson.

Two commercial litigation partners and two counsel from Debevoise & Plimpton have also joined Hogan Lovells as partners which will enable it to bolster its London disputes practice.

They include the highly-rated former Herbert Smith board member Kevin Lloyd as well as fellow Debevoise partner Richard Lawton alongside international counsel Akima Paul Lambert and Ardil Salem.

They join a team of Hogan Lovells' around 2,400 lawyers working in the firm's more than 40 offices spread across the US, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Patrick Sarch has 25 years of experience in advising clients on corporate finance, M&A transactions and restructurings. He had worked on high-profile deals such as Kraft's takeover of Cadbury's and Sainsbury's acquisition of the Home Retail Group. Sarch had served for four years at White & Case and had been a partner at Clifford Chance in the past.

Kevin Lloyd has solid leadership experience. Prior to joining Debevoise, Lloyd was head of contentious restructuring and insolvency at Herbert Smith, where he was also on the board of the law firm.

Richard Lawton and Ardil Salem moved out of Herbert Smit to join Debevoise along with Lloyd. Lawton and Salem had started their career at Herbert Smith.

Hogan Lovells' CEO Miguel Zaldivar said: "These appointments demonstrate our ambition and commitment to grow into an unrivalled global powerhouse that puts clients at the centre of everything we do, drives revenue and enhances profitability."