Hogan Lovells Cadwalader and Ashurst Perkins Coie — Historic Mergers Now Reshaping the Lateral Market

Two historic mergers completed July 1 are now producing first-order lateral market consequences visible in August's data. The Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader combination — described as the largest law firm merger in history, creating a 3,200-plus-lawyer platform across Americas, EMEA, and APAC — is already losing groups: Sidley Austin raided Hogan Lovells Cadwalader in what was characterized as a "big group lateral move" immediately after close, and the Brown Rudnick IP group extraction occurred within 35 days. The $2.8 billion Ashurst–Perkins Coie transatlantic merger, producing a top-20 global firm by revenue with 950-plus partners and 3,500 fee earners across 52 offices, represents a structural repositioning for both firms but will similarly generate lateral vulnerability as integration proceeds. Jones Day's August 4 hire of Milbank's APAC restructuring head Nicholas Dunstone in Sydney — its fifth lateral partner of 2026 and thirteenth since launching its strategic growth plan — illustrates that even firms not party to mega-mergers are actively positioning in the lateral disruption those mergers produce.