A world of opportunities

By joining Hogan Lovells, you will become part of a law practice that has both a long tradition of excellence and a worldwide profile of more than 3,050 lawyers in over 45 offices around the world, working with an integrated team of lawyers to provide first-rate legal service in and across our diverse and sophisticated areas of practice. Our lawyers are at the top of their fields in corporate, finance, regulatory, litigation and intellectual property and are regularly called upon to respond to a wide range of cutting edge legal issues. Our unique global platform and one-team approach to serving our clients will offer you a great foundation on which to build your legal career, now and into the future.

THE HOUSTON OFFICE

Established in 2008, our Houston office is located in the hub of the U.S. energy industry and offers the sophistication of working in a truly global law practice in a team-oriented and collegial environment located in one of the country’s most diverse cities. In a city that is home to 27 Fortune 500 companies (the second highest number in the United States) and widely known as the energy capital of the world, our Houston lawyers handle commercial, intellectual property, and other complex litigation matters involving multiple parties and jurisdictions, and the applications of foreign and domestic law. In addition, our project and international finance and energy lawyers have extensive experience in a wide variety of transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, structured energy transactions and exclusive energy supply arrangements.

The facts about Houston:

• Our team includes 35 lawyers and 25 other professionals. We are diverse in many ways.
• Our lawyers are leaders in the community and in the bar. Our partners have been recognized as top practitioners in their fields by industry-leading publications, such as Chambers USA, Chambers Global, and Legal 500. Our roster includes a former trial judge and highly acclaimed international litigators.
• We typically have three to six summer associates join us each year.
• We’re located in the heart of downtown, which boasts direct access to all Metro Light Rail lines, five new residential projects under development within five blocks, 1000+ hotel rooms within two blocks and 100+ restaurants within a ten minute walk.
• In June 2017 we became the first law firm to move into the stunning 48-story office tower at 609 Main. Among its many amenities, our new space offers a bright, open design with a welcoming environment, including 10’ floor-to-ceiling windows, a high-end conference center, state-of-the-art technology, an abundance of meeting spaces, a wellness room, LEED Silver Certification, and more efficient workspaces. In addition, you will find beautifully designed coffee bars, custom-designed furniture throughout, height-adjustable desks, and an incredible lounge area overlooking Allen’s Landing. 
• Our building features a state-of-the-art fitness center on the second floor at no cost to employees. The fitness center offers full towel service, filtered water stations, wipe stations, lockers, and fully equipped, secure spa-like bathrooms.  Bike storage is also available on site.
• We like to be social – we celebrate milestones, try new workouts, host impromptu happy hours in The Landing (one of our communal spaces), cheer on our World Champion Astros, and enjoy annual summer and holiday gatherings.

A great place to work

One of our greatest assets is our widely known culture of collegiality and respect. These are not just goals; they are an integral part of how we operate every day. We prize our friendly, team-oriented work environment, which encourages professional development, good associate-partner relations, and early client contact. We recruit well-rounded lawyers of intellectual distinction who not only have demonstrated strong leadership and communication skills and excellent judgment but also share our commitment to work as part of a cohesive and supportive team.

A commitment to your future

At Hogan Lovells, you will have access to many opportunities to develop and refine your legal skills.

With guidance from lawyer coordinators and mentors, summer associates complete meaningful client work and participate in training programs designed to develop and enhance legal skills. Summer associates have opportunities to attend client meetings, closings, and legislative and administrative hearings, and meet with firm alumni serving in prominent roles in government and business. Through varied virtual and in-person programming, summer associates hear from Hogan Lovells leaders about our vision and values, practice areas, financial information, and strategic plans for the future, and learn about the functions of the firm. Group team building exercises and work assignments allow summer associates get to know their colleagues across the U.S. and make lifelong connections.

Professional training continues throughout the careers of our lawyers, with many opportunities to learn by doing supplemented by a wide range of programs facilitated by the HL Learn team. The quality of our legal training is reflected in the fact that Hogan Lovells lawyers are recognized as pre-eminent in a wide variety of fields and our alumni serve in prominent leadership roles in government and business. Hogan Lovells is committed to fostering your professional development, including attentive mentoring that is essential to professional growth.

Support for the professional development of our associates continues through participation in our Lawyer Development Framework which helps our attorneys to achieve their career goals.

Summer Program in Houston

We seek candidates who have a serious long-term interest in living and practicing in Houston.  The application process for Hogan Lovells’ summer program is competitive. We look for superior academic credentials as well as excellent written and oral communication skills. We also look for other indicators of likely success at our firm, such as demonstrated leadership skills, good judgment, strong motivation, work experience, and the ability to work well with others.  Given our deep commitment to pro bono and citizenship matters, we also attract lawyers who want to serve their communities.

Summer associates will work with an assignment coordinator to help identify suitable assignments and ensure that they are able to explore their areas of interest.

Social events are an important opportunity for summer associates to meet and get to know our lawyers. The Houston office offers a mix of small and large social events to facilitate the development of these relationships in a less formal environment. 

While we do not preclude our summer associates from “splitting” their summer to work with another firm or other organization, we do require that they spend eight to 10 weeks with us during a 10-week window.

An inclusive atmosphere

Our commitment to being a diverse and inclusive place to work is at the core of our vision and our values. Hogan Lovells’ success depends on our ability to foster a work environment where people of all backgrounds and experiences may reach their full potential. We have a long history of being committed to recruiting, retaining, and promoting lawyers and others with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We continue to build on our history as one of the first major U.S. law firms to achieve a critical mass of people of color and women. Our culture of inclusion, which respects and values the diversity of all our people, significantly enhances the quality of our workplace and our ability to provide excellent legal services to our clients.

Make a difference in your community

Hogan Lovells' commitment to pro bono legal work is deeply rooted in our culture and history. Our pioneering US Pro Bono practice began more than 40 years ago, when we were the first firm to establish a separate practice devoted exclusively to pro bono services. Drawing on the experience of our professionals worldwide, we take seriously our responsibility to improve the lives of those without access to justice or the means to hire lawyers, and to meet the legal needs of charities and nonprofit social enterprises. Our people at every level are extensively engaged in these efforts, providing you with the opportunity to make a meaningful difference right from the start of your career.

Pro Bono in Houston

Pro bono and other citizenship activities are key components of our culture.  We partner with many legal service providers to match lawyers or teams of lawyers with direct representation matters in both the litigation and corporate contexts, including the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program (HVLP), Tahirih Justice Center, KIND, CAIR, the Instituto Argentino del Petróleo y del Gas de Houston (IAPGH), and the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program.

Recently, we successfully represented a prisoner who was housed in administrative segregation.  Our pro bono client was kept isolated in his cell for 23 or 24 hours per day for consecutive days—and sometimes weeks—without a shower or recreation time, and he was also fed nutritionally deficient cold snack meals with little to any variety, fruits, or vegetables.  We obtained a settlement including $5,000 and non-monetary relief, including a court-ordered emergency trip to the prison’s commissary so the client could make purchases in time for his birthday.

We also obtained a very favorable settlement in the Southern District of Texas for a pro bono client—an inmate at the Harris County jail—in his Section 1983 civil rights lawsuit over inadequate dental care, which is a rare outcome for such cases.  We not only obtained all the non-monetary relief our client sought and desperately needed, but secured an opinion that will help protect the rights of all inmates to adequate care and that could ignite major policy changes at the jail.  Highlighting the rewards of our pro bono commitment, the team received a call from the client’s mother after the settlement tearfully expressing her sincere gratitude for their generosity and support of her son.

Community Outreach in Houston

Our Houston office has worked on 13 projects, engaged two non-profit partners, and dedicated many hours to our Empowering Girls & Women Initiative. In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey we worked with existing community partners, the Houston Area Food Bank and Houston Area Women’s Center, to schedule extra shifts to help provide food and other basic necessities to Houston-area residents. Our volunteers in Houston have dedicated several hours to non-legal Hurricane Harvey disaster relief and recovery efforts since the hurricane made landfall.

We volunteer on a bi-monthly basis at the Houston Food Bank. Members of our office assist with meal preparation and packaging for daily distribution. The Houston Food Bank is America’s largest food bank in distribution to its network of 600 hunger relief charities in 18 southeast Texas counties. Named “Top Charity in Texas” by Charity Navigator for financial performance and accountability, the Houston Food Bank provides 83 million nutritious meals to food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers, and other agencies, feeding 800,000 people each year.

Members of our team also volunteer at the Houston Area Women’s Center, specifically with administrative, awareness projects, and event support.  For over 35 years, the Houston Area Women’s Center has worked relentlessly to help survivors affected by domestic and sexual violence build lives free from the effects of violence.

Every December we host a toy drive on behalf of BE A Resource (BEAR).  BEAR for CPS Kids is a non-profit that offers hope and help for abused and neglected children and the caseworkers who protect them. BEAR provides emergency good and services directly to children under the care of Children Protective Services in Harris County.

We also team up with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF) for the annual JDRF One Walk – their flagship fundraising event that draws more than 900,000 people who raise money for T1D research each year.  JDRF is the only global diabetes foundation with a strategic plan to end type 1 diabetes (T1D). 

For more information on our U.S. law student recruitment initiatives, please visit Hogan Lovells Careers in the United States.