Hogan Lovells has hired a team of more than 30 partners from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan amid questions about the US firm’s future.

The Stroock departures come after merger talks with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman broke down last week. 

The partners joining Hogan Lovells include Stroock’s co-managing partner and co-chair of its real estate group Jeffrey Keitelman, alongside his corporate real estate team and an elite cadre of New York litigation and transaction lawyers. The partners are spread across Stroock’s four US offices in New York, Washington DC, Miami and Los Angeles. Stroock’s website lists that it has 46 partners in total, suggesting the Hogan Lovells departures account for the majority of its partnership. 

Keitelman said: “We looked carefully at several attractive options to grow our practices. We chose Hogan Lovells because of its top-ranked REIT practice, which is a unique opportunity for our real estate lawyers, and because the firm is well known for handling sophisticated litigation matters and complex, multi-jurisdictional transactional matters. And as one of the very few truly integrated global law firms, Hogan Lovells has a culture that is attractive to us.”

While Hogan Lovells didn’t disclose the full list of new arrivals, the group also includes lawyers with experience in government contracts and public policy.

Miguel Zaldivar, Hogan Lovells CEO, said: “This is a premier group of extremely talented lawyers who will significantly expand our presence in New York, as well as add to our real estate capabilities in other important markets. We are on a mission to grow in the US, and this is an outstanding opportunity to deliver on our strategy to invest in premium practices and expand our client relationships.”

The partners are expected to join in mid-November.

The partner exodus is just the latest in a wave of departures from Stroock since the start of last year. Those exits have included a team of 10 litigation and regulatory lawyers joining Morgan Lewis & Bockius in May this year and an 18 partner-strong group of restructuring lawyers that joined Paul Hastings in March 2022.

Stroock had previously been in talks with Nixon Peabody over a potential merger before the latest talks with Pillsbury collapsed.

Hogan Lovells also called off merger talks with Shearman & Sterling earlier this year, with Shearman going on to pursue a tie-up with Allen & Overy, which partners approved earlier this month.