Magic Circle firm Linklaters has made up 10 partners from its Silk Street headquarters amid a 24-strong round.
London accounted for 42% of the firm’s enlarged promotions round this year, compared to just 35% in 2015. Last year the firm promoted eight City associates to partner, with just seven London lawyers making the cut in 2014.
Among the group is private equity lawyer Will Aitken-Davies, who has long been touted as a future partner. Aitken-Davies has worked closely with corporate partner David Holdsworth on a string of deals, including last year’s instruction from a consortium including Goldman Sachs and longstanding Linklaters private equity client TDR Capital on its €3.7bn acquisition of LeasePlan, a Dutch vehicle management company, from German car giant Volkswagen last summer.
The size of the global promotions round is one up on 2015, when 23 Linklaters lawyers made partner, and is three up on 2014 when just 21 lawyers made partner. Despite the slowdown in capital markets over the last six months, the Magic Circle firm elected six capital markets lawyers to partner, having not made a promotion in this area last year. Two of these are based in the City, with highly regarded duo Mark Drury and Neil Dixon both getting the nod.
Hong Kong, which only received one partner promotion across 2014 and 2015, was a central focus of the round with a whopping five associates made up to partner following a string of high profile exits in the region last year. Among the group is highly rated international arbitration lawyer Justin Tang. The firm also made up two Hong Kong-based capital markets lawyers in the form of Jonathan Horan and Terence Lau, as well as corporate lawyer Alex Bidlake and banking specialist Frank Cui.
Linklaters senior partner Robert Elliott said: ‘The technical and commercial know-how of this year’s new partner cohort is exceptional. The development of their talents and potential at partner level will bring new strength to the firm, ensuring continued excellence and client satisfaction.’
The promotions take effect on 1 May 2016.
The full list of partners is as follows:
Will Aitken-Davies, mainstream corporate, London
Silke Bernard, investment management group, Luxembourg
Alex Bidlake, mainstream corporate, Hong Kong
Cyril Boussion, tax, Paris
Frank Cui, banking, Hong Kong
Neil Dixon, capital markets, London
Mark Drury, capital markets, London
Thomas Elkins, competition, Paris
Andrew Ford, investment management group, New York
Ros Gallagher, dispute resolution, London
Philip Goss, pensions, London
Jonathan Horan, capital markets, Hong Kong
Ian Hunter, mainstream corporate, London
Jann Jetter, tax, Munich
Georgina Kon, TMT IP, London
Terence Lau, capital markets, Hong Kong
Barbara Lauer, capital markets, Frankfurt
Mario Pofahl, mainstream corporate, Frankfurt
Mees Roelofs, banking, Amsterdam
Oliver Sceales, banking, London
Alexander Shopov, capital markets, London
Justin Tang, dispute resolution, Hong Kong
Tom Watkins, real estate, London
Niclas Widjeskog, dispute resolution, Stockholm
