The Legal Cheek View
Hogan Lovells Cadwalader was born out of a near £3 billion merger in 2026, combining global heavyweight Hogan Lovells with Wall Street’s oldest law firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. While Hogan Lovells was the significantly larger of the two, Cadwalader brought serious Wall Street pedigree to the table, with a reputation built on high-end capital markets and financial restructuring work. The deal propelled the newly united firm into the top five largest in the world by revenue.
Hogan Lovells Cadwalader does a bit of everything and does it well. While it leans slightly towards the corporate and finance side, these aren’t the only departments pulling their weight. A good chunk of the firm’s work comes from intellectual property, media and tech (IPMT), and global regulatory, while disputes make up the rest. This well-roundedness is a major draw for future trainees, who like the idea of keeping their options open before settling into a specialism. In fact, we’re told it’s a requirement for all trainees to do at least one seat in each of the firm’s corporate, litigation and finance practices, which rookies say gives them “a holistic experience of commercial law and takes the pressure off having to specialise too early”.
Hogan Lovells Cadwalader operates out of five major hubs in Washington DC, New York, London, Germany and the Mediterranean region, boasting a broad international footprint spanning 19 countries. The firm’s two UK bases in London and Birmingham have accounted for just under 20% of its total growth, with domestic revenues climbing steadily year on year. Elsewhere, the firm has not been afraid to make tough calls in recent years, shuttering operations in Poland, Australia and South Africa to sharpen its focus on its core UK and US markets.
If financials are anything to go by, these moves have paid off. In its last full year before the merger, Hogan Lovells posted record revenues, with global turnover rising to $3.29 billion (£2.46 billion) from $2.96 billion (£2.21 billion) the previous year. Profit per equity partner also jumped from $3 million (£2.4 million) to $3.5 million (£2.67 million), rounding off a strong final chapter as a standalone firm.
There is also a wide range of opportunities for international secondments with a decent number of trainees enjoying spells in far-flung destinations such as New York, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong and Paris. Client secondments are also up for grab in industries from banking and finance to automotive to pharmaceuticals.
What’s more, Hogan Lovells Cadwalader has one of the leading pro bono and corporate social responsibility operations in the City, with a wide variety of clients including the British Paralympic Association. All the firm’s trainees are actively involved in pro bono work, gaining hands-on experience while making a real difference. Other pro bono efforts include advising London’s Air Ambulance Charity on a new helicopter acquisition and continued work on the firm’s Cost of Living Crisis Clinic. And they are becoming increasingly conscious of their environmental impact too, insiders tell us the firm has been putting its efforts into compostable and recyclable office products, cycle to work schemes and has banned short-haul flights where there is an appropriate train option available. If that wasn’t enough, the firm has even has its own public café and bakery, ‘Nova’, which was launched in partnership with the social enterprise Luminary Bakery and Fairtrade-certified Perkee Coffee.
Upon joining, rookies undergo a week-long induction which is said to be a “strong introduction to the firm and its processes”. You’ll then receive more introductory sessions each time you move seats, though our sources have told us that the “best training comes informally through supervisors and others in your team.” Naturally, this means there’s some inevitable variation, as one LC spy puts it “some colleagues are exceptional at (and genuinely interested in) training up juniors, whilst others are less so” but, on the whole, the trainees were overwhelmingly positive about the training on offer: “I have no complaints. I can’t think of a situation where I felt out of my depth due to a lack of training. Equally training has not been a burden that has gotten in the way of billable work. Some of the general professional development sessions have been very helpful as well.”
Another trainee had this to offer: “I have really enjoyed working with each and every one of my supervisors. They have been incredibly supportive, have looked to give me new levels of independence as I progress and always take the time to explain a case/deal to ensure that I have a good level of understanding and can really get into the weeds of the work I am doing. I would really recommend the training here to any aspiring trainees.” High praise indeed. Trainees also tout the optional master’s training that can be taken during the SQE training course.
Junior fee-earning work “varies from seat to seat”, “but generally you are given a really broad range of work tasks, which keeps things consistently interesting”. Transactional seats receive more positive feedback for giving “a lot of responsibility and a lot of interesting work”, whilst litigation and arbitration receive some flack for the “huge amounts of admin such as preparing trial bundles and doing tasks related to billing” that they come with. By contrast, another rookie tells us that in their finance seat they “had quite a substantial amount of client contact and felt integral to the transaction.” Overall, HLC rookies are pleased with the level of work afforded to them, as one notes, “I am extremely happy with the quality of work I have experienced so far in my seat. It involves highly recognisable clients and usually on very interesting and novel facts that strongly align with my interests. Probably the best part of the job.” Others report being “regularly given particular sections of transactions and asked to manage these areas myself” and at least one felt that they “have been given work that pretty much no other firm would give trainees”.
Trainees’ confidence that Hogan Lovells Cadwalader is “willing to keep up with the competition” has proven to be well-placed. Levels of responsibility increase sharply in the associate ranks, where its London NQ base rates sit at £145,000. Having made it to NQ, you have a decent chance of reaching the top of the firm, with the firm boasting a good reputation for promoting its own to partner level.
But you have to work hard to get there. Trainees say their work/life balance is “seasonal” but confess that they can be particularly “challenging” at times. That said, rookies seem pretty content with their lot: “I can’t complain. The hours are as long as one would expect but definitely on the more manageable end when compared to what I hear about from other firms. I have yet to work on the weekends and I usually have decent warning if I am going to have to work later than usual. There isn’t a facetime culture as long hours aren’t valued in their own right, but at the same time it is not a good look to leave earlier than your team members on a regular basis.” Another adds, “Colleagues are generally understanding when you have commitments outside of work, but I have found that expectations and approaches differ a lot depending on the team. All teams will require the occasional busy periods, and the best teams have been those where I have simply been asked by my supervisor or managing partner to set aside the required days / weeks for intense work. Other teams, however, don’t speak about work/life balance so openly, and instead it can seem as though trainees have to try and intuit for themselves whether they are expected to be working exceptionally late.”
Despite the occasional late night, morale seems high among the firm’s rookie ranks. Several individuals told us that they had formed lifelong friendships with members of their cohort: “My peers in general are very supportive and want to see me do well” boasted one recruit. “We all very much focus on our own training experience and qualification prospects, rather than comparing against each other”. Another tells us the “lovely reputation holds true; everyone at the firm (specifically in the tax team) is impressive and at the top of their game but without being pretentious, aloof or unfriendly. It really is a lovely place to work.” And you need to look no further than the firm’s introduction of an internal channel for all staff to report incidents that have made them feel uncomfortable in the workplace for proof of this.
Whether its book clubs, cycling events or Thursday night dinner and drinks at nearby haunt Gigi’s, Hogan Lovells Cadwalader has a pretty decent social life to match its lovely trainees. More formal events include an annual summer party and leaver/joiner drinks at the end of each seat which trainees leaving and going into the seat can attend.
As far as HLC superiors are concerned, all the rookies we spoke to considered everyone at the firm to be “very approachable”, a consequence of the open door policy. “You build such a great rapport with your supervisors, it’s quite sad to actually leave them – they’re incredible people, teachers and sources of support and inspiration” said one trainee which Legal Cheek spoke to. “First supervisor was 100/10 and developed me as a lawyer so much. It was the most amazing training and supervision I could have had as a first seater. My second supervisors are 6-7/10. Have rated at 8 overall” added another. The inside tip is that junior lawyers are expected to make the first move when it comes to building relations with higher-ups so don’t be too shy!
The firm’s move to its new “bespoke” eco-friendly digs has been in the makings for a while now. But after delays caused by Ancient Roman remains (of all things!) insiders can finally see light at the end of the tunnel, with the move to the other side of Holborn viaduct said to be right around the corner. The move couldn’t come at a better time either, according to the trainees we spoke to, as the inside scoop is that their existing digs are “beginning to get tired and things are starting not to be fixed.” Another more sentimental recruit told us that “Atlantic House is still a very nice place to work, bright, airy and spacious with well-kept offices and plenty of facilities” and the “enormous water feature in the atrium is a nice touch” but rookies are, in the large, excited to be on the move, which (pending no more Roman remains) is pencilled in for late 2026.
Slightly less exciting than a new office is the tech on offer. The firm’s internal tech team ELTEMATE have their own legal AI chatbot, but at least one technophile is less than enthused with using Harvey’s ‘less sophisticated’ younger brother ‘Craig’: “The day to day legal tech works well enough but we are still waiting to be transferred to Windows 11 which is frustrating. Also, as someone who is well-versed with using AI, I feel someone held back by the firm’s in-house offering Craig which is okay but significantly less sophisticated than commercial offerings or even other offerings like Harvey.”
And no LC review is complete without mentioning the perks. Not only do the trainees enthuse about the “excellent” free in-house gym equipped with personal trainer and “Kulan Kitchen”, the firm’s canteen, where the food is “genuinely excellent and fairly cheap”, as well as being completely free one day a week, but there’s private medical insurance, an option to buy extra holidays, free mortgage advice, free counselling, private healthcare and a ‘passport’ scheme where juniors can work in one of the firm’s international offices for a period of time.