Hogan Lovells is looking to bulk up its U.K. and U.S. restructuring bench with lawyers from other parts of the firm, as it handles an influx in work due to the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on businesses.

The firm is considering offering secondments to its lawyers in London and New York as part of the push, according to its head of restructuring, Tom Astle.

The firm is mulling offering six or 12-month secondments to London junior lawyers and trainees, as well as considering offering training, Astle confirmed.

He said in a written statement: "At present, we have not actively seconded anybody into London restructuring, but we have put arrangements in place (as we did in the global financial crisis) because we see this evolving over the coming months."

He added that the firm is considering offering restructuring training to London and New York lawyers in other teams and that secondments within the New York team could also be an option.

"[In New York] an obvious option is to look at moving in lawyers from related teams on a temporary or permanent basis. Clearly training needs to be provided; its not appropriate to present somebody to clients as a restructuring professional where it is not true – we are always open and frank with clients about the team that will support them, and restructurings tend to need a blend of skillsets," he added.

Law firm restructuring practices are expecting a busy period for the foreseeable future, as businesses are hit with financial struggles caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Several U.K. retailers have collapsed in recent weeks, including department store  Debenhams, rent-to-own company BrightHouse, and restaurant chain Carluccio's. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Ashurst won mandates on the matters.

Astle said: "The first phase of the impact of Covid19 will see a lot of clients grapple with liquidity problems. We are supporting many of our clients with immediate term cashflow issues stemming from the government guidance and instruction. There are a lot of operational changes, and some government support, and many stakeholders recognise the situation and will support – it's urgent work."

Hogan Lovells is the most recent firm to look to shift resources to restructuring. In March, CMS sought to manage the restructuring workload brought by the virus by relocating some lawyers from across the firm to its restructuring and insolvency practice.

The story was first published in the Financial Times.

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