Ashurst has made up 20 lawyers to partner in its latest promotions round.

The cohort – 10 smaller than 2024’s – follows three consecutive years of record rounds at the Anglo-Australian firm, which said last year it was aiming to become a $1bn firm after a strong performance across all its regions and industries fuelled a 9% rise in turnover to £961m in the year ended 30 April 2024. 

The new partners cover 10 practice groups, with notable investments in dispute resolution (four promotions), corporate transactions and projects and energy transition (three each), reflecting priority growth areas set out in Ashurst’s 2027 growth strategy. There were also two promotions apiece in the competition and tax practices and one in the firm’s NewLaw arm, with the rest spread across restructuring, global loans, global markets and digital economy transactions. 

Unlike in previous years when Australia featured heavily, this time most of the promotions – 12 – went to lawyers based in London, including Michelle Davenport and Will Tane in the projects and energy transition team and M&A lawyer Hayley Gow in the corporate transactions practice. Commercial arbitration specialist Harsh Hari Haran and Andris Ivanovs, a white-collar crime and international regulatory compliance lawyer, were also elevated in the dispute resolution team. 

Elsewhere in the UK Jen McCormick, regional head of the firm’s NewLaw legals ops and delivery practice for EMEA and the US, was promoted in Glasgow, while in continental Europe there was a promotion each in Paris and Madrid and two in Frankfurt, where acquisition finance lawyer Sabrina Bremer and corporate litigator Tilmann Hertel got the nod. 

The final three promotions were in Australia: two in Sydney and one in Melbourne, where restructuring lawyer Jacqueline Chan was made up. 

“I’d like to congratulate our 20 new partners who represent the next generation of Ashurst leaders,” said Karen Davies, Ashurt’s global chair, who was re-elected for a second term last month. 

“This group embodies our collaborative culture and forward-thinking approach, and I am confident that each individual will play a pivotal role in the firm’s future direction and continued success,” she added. 

Of the new partners, 40% are women, a proportion the firm said maintained its five-year rolling average. Four years ago the firm published a target that at least 40% of its partnership and senior business services leaders would be female by 2026. Its global partnership is currently 34% female, up from 19% in the 2018/19 financial year.

The promotions are effective on 1 May 2025 and will take the firm’s global partner headcount to more than 500.