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A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hogan Lovells Cadwalader Merger

February 04, 2026

In a sit-down interview with The American Lawyer, Cadwalader Co-Managing Partners Pat Quinn and Wes Misson joined Hogan Lovells CEO Miguel Zaldivar, Jr. to provide, as the publication notes, “a behind-the-scenes look at how the history-making merger came together, discussing the overarching strategy behind the combination and emphasizing the importance of scale and balance in propelling the combined firm to the upper echelons of the Am Law 100.”

Pat, Wes and Miguel shared how there was merger interest expressed in 2024, and how the leaders kept in touch and, ultimately, focused on the compelling rationale to combine.

In his pitch for a merger, Miguel highlighted practice synergies and market challenges as reasons to consider a combination. Cadwalader, which services more than 100 financial institutions and works alongside insurance companies, serviced clients with deep regulatory needs that Hogan Lovells could service.

“This is a unique match for us if you think about the way the pieces fit together,” Pat added.

The integration process between Cadwalader and Hogan Lovells is already underway, with Pat at the helm as global managing partner of practice and client innovation. Partners are being introduced across both legacy firms, and the article noted that Pat hosts at least two integration meetings on a weekly basis to plan integration efforts.

"It’s been incredibly collaborative, and there’s a lot to do for sure, but that’s exciting because there’s so much opportunity,” Pat said. “As you might imagine, we started focusing on clients first...but the cultural piece, honestly, I think that’s going to be easy. When we first started having serious conversations, we would discuss...how do you do all these things that law firms do? And it was very similar.”

“On the cultural point, we are, the more and more you peel back the onion, the more you discover we are more alike than we are different,” Wes added. “And where there are differences, it’s very complementary.”

Pat noted that, in addition to highly positive feedback from clients and firm professionals, there has been significant interest from potential lateral talent.

“We’re getting inbound interest from potential lateral partners who are saying ‘this is a game changer,’” Pat said. “People want to be a part of this.”

Read the article here (subscription required).

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