Partnership promotion figures unveiled in April saw a slight improvement on the dwindling numbers seen in earlier announcements, although still fall largely short of the 5% estimated to be needed to maintain partnerships at their current levels.
Linklaters and Clifford Chance (CC) made up 21 partners apiece and Herbert Smith Freehills 23, as Norton Rose Fulbright unveiled a post-merger figure of 46, and Ashurst similarly revealed it will make up 15 partners in the first round since its merger last year with Australia’s Blake Dawson.
Linklaters was one of the earliest to declare its latest promotions in April, down from a figure of 24 in 2013 but accounting for almost 5% of its current partner numbers.
The promotions, which will go live from 1 May, are spread across the Magic Circle firm’s 11 jurisdictions and eight practice areas, with eight new capital markets partners making up 38% of the new intake.
For CC, which has seen a slight increase on last year’s promotion figure of 20 partners, its latest round accounted for 3.7% of current partner numbers.
CC’s seven City promotions span the firm’s finance, capital markets, real estate, and disputes practices, with the remaining promotions falling across New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Perth, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Luxembourg and Abu Dhabi.
Norton Rose Fulbright, meanwhile, made up a total of 46 partners – including eight promotions to the South African equivalent role of director – in its first round since its merger with Fulbright & Jaworski took effect in June 2013.
Ashurst’s partner promotions are up from a pre-merger figure of 12 last year and represent 3.6% of its current total partnership number of 433.
Of the other UK top 20 firms to announce results in April, Pinsent Masons promoted 15 to partnership, up one on last year; Bird & Bird maintained steady levels for a third consecutive year with 11 promotions; and Berwin Leighton Paisner promoted eight, down one on 2013.