Hogan Lovells must keep the ambition burning

Assessing the prospects for this year's impending launch of Hogan Lovells remains, despite the extensive coverage it has already received, no easy task. Twenty years since leading US and UK firms began thinking seriously about international expansion there remain few precedents for a merger of equals in the upper reaches of the global legal market. Transatlantic unions have proved even more elusive; some would argue that the governance structure of DLA Piper and the disparity in size between Clifford Chance and Rogers & Wells means there has never been a true merger in this class.

What is clear is that the tie-up between Lovells and Hogan & Hartson has huge potential and the management teams of both firms deserve much credit for putting together a workable deal at such speed. As can be seen from this week's analysis, with so much goodwill on both sides and a compelling practice story, expectations are sky high.

That is the good news, but it brings with it the heavy burden of meeting expectations. Unlocking the potential of the union will require both firms to build decisively on their initial success in securing the union. That will take determination, good humour and bags of pragmatism. It will also require a lot of progress in the first year of the merger. As managing partners have found through painful experience, if you don't get the merger to largely happen in spirit in the first 12 months, it's very hard to make it happen at all.

The danger is that it will be very easy to fall into muddling along as two firms under one brand. After all, such a move would be no disaster and would most likely provide some modest but considerable benefits. But such an approach won't take the firm where it says it wants to be: a top 10 global practice in quality as well as size. That means not being content with being a large fish in sizeable regional pools, but being mentally prepared to compete with the world's best law firms, at least in the combined firm's core areas.

Another challenge Hogan Lovells will face is making its dual management structure, the inevitable result of such a sizeable merger, provide the leadership it needs. Such structures can certainly work but, by definition being light on governance clarity, they do require large reserves of goodwill and engagement on both sides to be truly effective. Thankfully the two firms don't appear to be in short supply on this front. As such, they have a respectable chance of making this a genuinely transformative deal. A lot of people have asked if the merger is a 'game-changer' for the legal market, the kind of development that affects attitudes among peer group firms. The simple answer is: not yet, but it certainly could be.

Click here for an in-depth analysis of the Hogan Lovells merger.

For more, see Lovells and Hogan name first combined 12-member board