NEWS RELEASE
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Feb. 25, 2016) – Hogan Lovells, a leading international law firm, selected Louisville to establish its second global business services center with an $8.9 million investment projected to create 250 high-quality jobs, Governor Matt Bevin and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced today.
“As one of the world’s most influential law firms, Hogan Lovells’ decision to locate a business services office in Kentucky is a testament to the quality of our workforce and the desirability of our location,” said Governor Bevin. “It is exciting to see a world-renowned company invest in our community. The 250 jobs associated with this announcement represent a great benefit to the Louisville area, and we are delighted to welcome them to the Bluegrass.”
The business services center is the Hogan Lovells’ second such location, with the first located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Though the exact address of the new business services center is still under consideration, the Louisville location is expected to open this summer and will allow the firm to better provide support to its clients in the U.S.
“We believe that this approach to how we deliver our business services is innovative, pragmatic and strategically sensible in light of market and client expectations,” said Scott Green, Hogan Lovells chief financial officer.
Mayor Fischer welcomed Hogan Lovells as the newest addition to Louisville’s robust business services sector.
“As an international law firm, Hogan Lovells’ investment further enhances Louisville’s presence in the global economy,” Fischer said. “Hogan Lovells selected Louisville because of our diverse and high-quality workforce, and we look forward to partnering with them to fill the 250 new jobs they are bringing to our city.”
Hogan Lovells, one of the world’s top 10 law firms, operates from 49 offices in 25 countries, employing more than 2,500 lawyers and 5,000 people in total.
Alice Valder Curran, Hogan Lovells’ Washington DC regional managing partner, said the firm concluded many of its business services need to remain close to its lawyers while others can be readily performed remotely with no impact to quality.
“The key is to find a location with quality and readily available personnel in a time zone that can support our Americas offices,” she said.
Hogan Lovells’ Americas regional managing partner, Cole Finegan, said the firm chose Louisville as it offers an excellent supply of talented people.
“It is (also) well placed in terms of time zones and offers good opportunities for cost savings when compared to Washington DC and a number of our other existing office locations,” he said.
To encourage the investment and job growth in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $4 million through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the agreement term through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.
In addition, Hogan Lovells is eligible to receive resources from the Kentucky Skills Network. Through the Kentucky Skills Network, companies are eligible to receive no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job training incentives. Last year, the Kentucky Skills Network trained more than 84,000 employees from more than 5,600 Kentucky companies.
Hogan Lovells, one of the world’s largest law firms, recorded annual revenues in 2015 of $1.82 billion. The Americas represents approximately 50 percent of total billings.
Independent market research company Acritas ranked the Hogan Lovells as a top-five law firm brand globally and ninth in the U.S. in 2015.
Recent client work includes:
Advising General Electric on the sale of its global real estate equity and debt portfolio business to Blackstone Group and Wells Fargo & Co. for $27 billion and the sale of its financial services business to Capital One for $9 billion.
Advising drinks company SABMiller on its $107 billion merger with Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev; the fourth largest M&A transaction globally of 2015.
For more information on Hogan Lovells, visit www.hoganlovells.com.