A tie-up between them would be one of the biggest in recent years, creating a $3.6 billion (£3.43bn) practice.

A spokeswoman for Shearman & Sterling said: “We continuously consider the various levers of growth that are accessible to us as part of our strategic planning process.

“These include both internal and external opportunities that would benefit our firm and our clients. Beyond that, we never comment on market rumours or speculation.”

A Hogan Lovells spokeswoman commented: “As a leading global law firm we regularly review our global strategy and opportunities that we believe may be available to us, and that includes discussions with different firms in the market.

“This demonstrates our confidence in our unique offering and our balance of practice areas, global footprint and sector strength.”