Sidley Austin has made up five lawyers in London in a 52-strong global partner promotions round.
The promotions followed Sidley making up 29 lawyers globally last year in its traditional December round and were the firm's first since introducing a salaried partner tier earlier this year.
GLP understands the latest round, effective 1 June, was a one-off and that Sidley will return to a single annual round from next year.
The London promotions included M&A lawyer Ed Perry, capital markets lawyer Omar Shafi, finance duo Lewis Atherton and Carry Chen and corporate real estate lawyer David Horan.
They took Sidley's London partner count to 65, and followed the firm aggressively hiring in the City in recent years across private equity, finance, funds, real estate and capital markets, including a raft of senior partners from Latham & Watkins over 2024 and 2025.
The remainder of the round went to lawyers across the US, including 12 in Sidley's Chicago headquarters and 10 in New York, where in recent months the firm has hired Debevoise & Plimpton’s finance chair and the co-head of Cravath Swaine & Moore’s venture capital and growth equity and digital assets practices. There were also seven promotions in Washington DC and five apiece in Dallas and Houston, with the remainder spread across Boston, Century City, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco.
The firm's M&A practice welcomed the most new partners, with eight, followed by five each in the investment funds and global finance practices. There were also four in the energy and infrastructure practice and three apiece in the tax, restructuring, capital market and private equity teams, the last of which saw four partners exit for Akin last month across London and New York. The rest of the promotions were spread across diverse practices including employee benefits, commercial litigation and real estate.
“This group of newly-elected partners reflects an extraordinary depth of talent and dedication,” said Yvette Ostolaza, chair of Sidley's management committee.
Brian Fahrney, chair of the firm's executive committee, said the promotions reflected Sidley's commitment to developing and promoting lawyers with "exceptional business acumen" who deliver strategic counsel to clients.
“We are grateful for their dedication to the firm and excited to celebrate this well-deserved accomplishment,” he said.
A full list of the new promotions can be found here.
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