Hogan Lovells Establishes Multi-Disciplinary Sovereigns Practice

01 March 2021 – Global law firm Hogan Lovells has enhanced its focus on sovereign clients by establishing a global, multi-disciplinary Sovereigns practice, aligned with the firm’s priority to invest in strategic markets.

The practice is led by a core team with extensive experience in representing clients in sovereign matters across the globe, including Infrastructure partners Jeremy Brittenden (London) and Bruno Ciuffetelli (Houston), Regulatory senior counsel Senator Coleman (Washington DC), Arbitration partner Laurent Gouiffès (Paris), and Competition partner Ciara Kennedy-Loest (London).

Together this team will coordinate a group of partners working across the entire Sovereign Cycle, from advising on Sovereign Debt, Infrastructure development and complex PPP projects, to Public law issues, International Arbitration and management of sovereign resources, all underpinned by a critical understanding of the environment in which sovereigns and their private sector partners operate.

Hogan Lovells’ existing clients evidence the firm’s broad strength in sovereign matters, from government-owned banks in Iceland, Brazil and China, central banks and Ministries of Finance in Latin America, West Africa and North Africa,  national energy companies including Petroamazonas and Equinor, development finance institutions including African Export-Import Bank and International Finance Corporation, state pension funds including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Queensland Investment Corporation, sovereign wealth funds in Asia and MENA including HRH Prince Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding Company, and governmental departments of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the United States, Canada, Singapore, Mexico, and Hong Kong, to name a few.

Jeremy Brittenden, Global Head of the Sovereigns practice, commented:

“Sovereigns play a leading role in creating, stimulating, and stabilizing markets and will be fundamental in driving economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. In a sense, they ‘make the weather. The breadth of our practice means that we are uniquely positioned to advise and support sovereigns and their private sector partners as they navigate this challenging environment, and seek to deliver positive outcomes for the economy, society and the environment.”

Reflecting on recent work, Bruno Ciuffetelli, Head of the Americas Sovereign practice, added:

“Our work over the past 12 months has exemplified how we can support sovereigns and their partners to deliver swift positive outcomes. For example, our work  advising the Government of Ecuador on their sovereign debt restructuring, supporting the UK government on the groundbreaking Supercomputing 2020+, assisting in the reshaping of the UK sanctions applicable to Russia and successfully closing the innovative disposal of UK renewable energy rights.” 

A key driver of the initiative is Hogan Lovells CEO Miguel Zaldivar, who has an extensive background representing clients in significant sovereign matters around the world said:

“We’re not alone in seeing the importance of this practice, and the distinctive environment in which sovereigns operate. However, our extensive track record as the leading global provider of legal services at the intersection of business and government combined with our  network of local partners connecting key financial centres and emerging markets gives us an edge, and enables us to provide a unique integrated local and global advice tailored to the needs of our sovereigns clients and our clients who wish to work with sovereigns around the world.”