Pierre Reuter (Hogan Lovells): Handling the Increasing Complexity of Legal Advice
“Our clients say of us that we have the upsides of a big law firm while also showing the upsides of a small one,” says Pierre Reuter, Office Managing Partner at Hogan Lovells. He shares with us the legal and strategic trends the global law firm is following.
Can you describe Hogan Howells in a few words?
We are a global law firm with over 45 offices throughout the world. We have a deep understanding of clients’ issues, straight-talking and practical problem solving as well as strong relationships and a collaborative approach. In Luxembourg, we provide corporate, tax, finance, investment funds and regulatory legal assistance, mainly on international matters. Our clients say of us that we have “the upsides of a big law firm (reputation, network and high standards) while also showing the upsides of a small one (dedication to the client, humility and capacity to listen to the client’s needs).” This is exactly what we want to be for our clients.
”Named as one of the most innovative law firms by the Financial Times, for the sixth consecutive year”
How are the needs of your clients evolving?
The trend for more business-oriented, pragmatic and commercial advice has been confirmed in recent years. Also, the matters that we are asked to advise on are becoming more and more complex due to their cross-border nature but also because they require multi-disciplinary teams. At an EMEA level, Hogan Lovells puts a lot of effort into sharing leadership thoughts and high-level insights on key business matters, as illustrated by our EMEA Leadership Talks series, which started last year. We are very lucky to have a great team in place, but we will have to recruit to satisfy the needs of our clients. Both talent retention and recruiting are the key issues for all Luxembourg law firms. Given the fast-paced environment in which we operate and our clients’ expectations for high-quality work, it is crucial to be able to staff every job with the team of the appropriate competencies, seniority, as well as diversity.
What legal trends do you identify and how are you adapting to them?
As a law firm, we use disruption to accelerate developments and collaborate with peers to tackle challenges ranging from geopolitical uncertainty to climate change. We have a very active ESG practice and our clients increasingly seek our advice on such issues in order to implement their own strategies. During the last few years, AI and automatization have become more and more relevant to our business. Consequently, we have invested heavily in this area and we are beginning to leverage our investments for the benefit of our clients.