Simmons & Simmons has made up 15 of its lawyers to partner in its largest promotion round for a decade.
The round represents the largest set of promotions since the firm made up 18 in 2008.
Of the lawyers being made up this year, 40 percent of the cohort are women. Last year, the firm broke its own records for promoting gender balance by making up four women to partnership out of a nine-strong round, equating to 44 percent.
Fourteen of this year's new partners are based in the U.K. and EMEA. The U.K. lawyers set to be made up include City-based disputes lawyers Adam Brown, Chris Owen, Priya Nagpa and Elizabeth Williams, plus Bristol-based Jonathan Spencer, as well as London financial markets lawyers Alex Ainley and Kathryn James, and employment lawyers Cathryn Bean and Ed Smith.
In Hong Kong, corporate lawyer Claudia Yiu is also being made up to partner.
Simmons senior partner Colin Passmore commented in a statement: "They are excellent lawyers with outstanding qualities and will help us continue to grow and strengthen our market-leading offering across the globe.”
The promotions come into effect on May 1, 2019. The firm now has about 280 partners.
Simmons' announcement reflects a wider trend among the top 50 U.K. firms this year, which has seen vastly expanded promotions rounds. CMS announced its largest-ever promotions round, while Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer made up their largest numbers for 10 years.
Simmons & Simmons promotions 2019:
Adam Brown – dispute resolution, London
Alex Ainley – financial markets, London
Cathryn Bean – employment, London
Chris Owen – dispute resolution, London
Christopher Goetz – corporate, Munich
Ed Smith – employment, London
Elizabeth Williams – dispute resolution, London
Gijs ter Braak – corporate, Amsterdam
Jonathan Spencer – dispute resolution, Bristol
Kathryn James – financial markets, London
Maria Tomillo – financial markets, Madrid
Paul Tjiam – dispute resolution, Amsterdam
Priya Nagpal – dispute resolution, London
Simone Lucatello – financial markets, Milan
Claudia Yiu – corporate, Hong Kong