Global law firm Hogan Lovells’ is looking to grab more of the private capital market from rivals and tap into a boom in transatlantic dealmaking following its merger with the oldest legal practice on Wall Street, Cadwaledar, Wickersham & Taft. UK managing partner Penny Angell told City AM the merger
Rosie Harris-Davison
Monday 13 July 2026 5:00 am | Updated: Friday 10 July 2026 6:07 pm
Economists expect GDP growth to decline by 0.1 per cent again in May Global law firm Hogan Lovells’ is looking to grab more of the private capital market from rivals and tap into a boom in transatlantic dealmaking following its merger with the oldest legal practice on Wall Street, Cadwaledar, Wickersham & Taft.
UK managing partner Penny Angell told City AM the merger creates “a stronger bench” for the combined companies to target the buoyant private capital market and take a bigger slice of one of the industry’s highest billing sectors.
The tie-up between the two companies, which completed on 1 July, marks the largest transatlantic law firm merger in history and creates a combined law firm with revenue of $3.6bn and a lawyer headcount of over 3,200.
Hogan Lovell’s corporate and finance arm has been its main revenue driver and the company is now looking to tap into the wave of US private equity companies buying UK firms, Angell said.
“The UK is an attractive investment opportunity for the US and we’ve seen some fantastic transactions,” Angell told City AM. “But I think there could be even more.”
#mc_embed_signup { background: #fff; clear: left; font: 14px Helvetica, Arial,sans-serif; width: 100%; max-width: 600px; margin: 20px 0; } #mc-embedded-subscribe-form { margin: 20px 0 !important; } .newsletter-form-flex { display: flex; gap: 0; align-items: center; margin-top: -10px; } .newsletter-form-flex input[type=”email”] { flex: 1; padding: 2px 10px; border: 1px solid rgb(18, 22, 23) !important; border-radius: 12px 0 0 12px !important; } .newsletter-form-flex input[type=”submit”] { padding: 4px 10px !important; margin: 0 !important; background-color: rgb(18, 22, 23) !important; color: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important; border: 1px solid rgb(18, 22, 23) !important; border-radius: 0 12px 12px 0 !important; } .newsletter-banner-content { margin-bottom: 15px; } .newsletter-banner-content h2 { margin: 0 0 10px 0; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 600; } .newsletter-banner-content p { margin: 0 0 10px 0; line-height: 1.5; } .newsletter-banner-content ul, .newsletter-banner-content ol { margin: 0 0 10px 20px; } .newsletter-banner-content a { color: #0073aa; text-decoration: none; } .newsletter-banner-content a:hover { text-decoration: underline; } .newsletter-banner-content img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; margin: 10px 0; } #mc_embed_signup #mce-success-response { color: #0356a5; display: none; margin: 0 0 10px; width: 100%; } #mc_embed_signup div#mce-responses { float: left; top: -1.4em; padding: 0; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; margin: 0; clear: both; }
The firm has been particularly beefing up its private equity footprint after poaching two top partners, Michael James and Edward Meadowcroft, from rival firm Paul Hastings in September to build out the practice. Hogan Lovells said this was “deliberate investment we are making in our global private equity platform and broader private capital offering”.
“Success is not about pure size, it’s about strengthening the New York-London corridor,” Angell said, adding that Zaldivar “has made no secret” of seeing this as a lucrative opportunity to leverage the firm’s presence in the US and UK.
Read more City law firm denies ties to KPMG Australia scandal
“Making the most of and strengthening those financial institutions and private capital opportunities is important,” she said.
UK is ‘an attractive investment opportunity for the US’
London has been hit by a wave of US-led takeovers in the past month. Easyjet on Friday agreed the terms of a takeover by US private equity behemoth Apollo after initially agreeing a deal with another US suitor, Castlelake; Ramsdens agreed to a takeover by American rival Firstcash and FTSE 100 Segro has rejected a £12.6bn approach from Californian real estate investor Prologis.
The value of agreed takeovers of London-listed firms this year now sits at $34.8bn, according to data from LSEG, nearly double that of the take-privates across the entirety of last year.
“In London last year, our largest sector by billings was financial institutions, followed by private capital,” Angell said, adding that
“Finance is at the heart of so many different transactions and financial institutions are so phenomenally important to the global economy,” she added, noting that the firm’s chief executive, Miguel Zaldivar, said “from a position of strength, the merger could be a game changer, and take the firm to the next level” by targeting these sectors.
Similarly tagged content: Sections Categories People & Organisations Related Topics
