Hogan Lovells yKeepers of Wickersham & Taft announced their intention to merge, creating Hogan Lovells Cadwalader. The combination will bring together Hogan Lovells, a global leader in advising clients in highly regulated industries, with Cadwalader, Wall Street’s oldest law firm.
This will be the largest law firm merger in history, creating the fifth-largest law firm in the world with annual revenues in excess of US$3.6 billion, based on 2024 results.
The revenues of the merged firm will be balanced between the main legal markets on both sides of the Atlantic
With 3,100 lawyers across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, the combined firm will serve clients in all major financial markets. Hogan Lovells Cadwalader will have strengths in finance, corporate law, regulation, intellectual property, and litigation, positioning the combined firm to represent the world’s leading financial institutions, multinational corporations, private equity funds, and sovereign entities in their most valuable strategic challenges.
“Clients are increasingly seeking law firms with deep industry expertise and a broad global reach to advise them on their most complex mandates around the world,” said Miguel A. Zaldivar, Jr., CEO of Hogan Lovells. “Cadwalader, a leading Wall Street institution, brings world-class financial capabilities, which, combined with Hogan Lovells’ powerful global platform, enhance our ability to comprehensively advise clients at a time when cross-border investments are increasingly driving growth in key sectors such as finance, energy, technology, life sciences, and others,” Zaldivar emphasized. “This combination fulfills our shared ambition to create a global firm with a strong transatlantic platform anchored in the world’s leading financial centers,” said Wes Misson, co-managing partner of Cadwalader.
Pat Quinn, co-managing partner of Cadwalader, added, “Together, Hogan Lovells Cadwalader will become one of the most formidable legal platforms in the world, built to advise clients on today’s most critical legal and business issues and the transactions that will shape the future. Throughout our discussions, it has been clear that we are driven by the same core values: excellence, ambition, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to our clients, our people, and society. This alignment gives us confidence that our cultures will complement each other and help us thrive.”
Miguel Zaldivar will be the CEO of the merged firm. Cadwalader is currently led by two co-managing partners, Pat Quinn and Wes Misson, and both will assume roles on the International Management Committee: Pat Quinn as global managing partner for client and practice integration, and Wes Misson as global managing partner for the financial practice. Misson will work alongside James Doyle, leader of the corporate and financial practice group, and David Bonser, global managing partner for the corporate practice.
The proposed merger is subject to customary closing conditions, including a vote of the partners of each firm to be held in 2026.
In New York, the combined firm will rank among the top 25 law firms, with more than 370 attorneys.
