When Hogan & Hartson and Lovells merge next month, the two firms plan to focus on amping up their corporate practice in New York and London.

In New York, the firm will augment the transactional team in an already strong corporate department to complement its existing strength in Washington, D.C., according to David Harris, the future joint chief executive of the melded enterprise. In London, the merger is expected to help attract new talent to a corporate department that has been viewed as underweight, Legal Week reports.