Miami hometown favorite Miguel Zaldivar is set to take over as CEO at Hogan Lovells starting July 1, replacing Steve Immelt.

Before getting the nod from the board, Zaldivar has been serving as Asia-Pacific and Middle East chief executive and a Hong Kong-based finance partner. He has been steeped for years in cross-border corporate deals.

The recommendation to become CEO is subject to a mandatory partnership vote in December. However, a person with knowledge of the voting process said it is "highly unlikely" the recommendation will fail.

Zaldivar would start a four-year term in place of Immelt, who has served as CEO since July 2014. Immelt and deputy CEO David Hudd are expected to retire shortly after the transition, the source said.

Last month, Law.com's Legal Week broke the news that six partners were in the running to succeed Immelt, three in London and the others in Hong Kong, Washington D.C. and Madrid.

Zaldivar joined legacy Hogan & Hartson's Miami office as a partner in 2002, He was a partner with Steel, Hector & Davis, as associate with Baker & McKenzie in Caracas, Venezuela, and a lawyer from abroad with Covington & Burling in Washington. He's a 1995 University of Miami School of Law graduate and a Fulbright scholar.

He served as global co-head of infrastructure, energy, resources and projects and worked on a record-setting financing effort for a $2 billion hydroelectric project in Ecuador. Zaldivar relocated to Hong Kong last year when he was appointed regional chief executive.

He has held many other senior positions at the firm, including developing the Latin American practice and serving on the firm's global board.

In a statement, Zaldivar said, "I am extremely passionate about the firm and its success and that starts with its clients and ensuring the service we deliver to them is consistently of the highest quality.

"We are in a unique position with the depth of our practices worldwide to be the adviser of choice for clients who need their lawyers to be tuned into the financial, commercial, regulatory and political dynamics of their industries and markets."

Hogan Lovells' chair Leopold von Gerlach added: "Miguel has a long commitment to the firm and has a clear sense of his priorities as our proposed CEO including among others, focusing on client service, investment in our key markets, incentivizing collaboration across the partnership, managing our profitability and supporting diversity and inclusion."

Immelt is the brother of former General Electric Co. CEO Jeffrey Immelt.

The law firm ranks seventh on the Am Law 200 list of the largest firms with $2.12 billion in annual revenue generated by about 2,640 attorneys in 50 offices