Freshfields has promoted 47 lawyers to its partnership – 22 more than last year – in a round dominated by its global transactions practice.
All five of the firm’s practice groups were represented, with 30 promoted in the global transactions practice – up from nine in 2025 – five apiece in the dispute resolution and antitrust, competition and trade teams, four in the tax practice and three in the people and reward practice.
The firm’s London headquarters saw by far the most promotions, welcoming 11 new partners, including eight in the transactions practice – asset-backed financing and securitisation lawyer Oliver Aikens, IP and tech specialist Zofia Aszendorf, M&A lawyers Piusha Bose, Lucy Cliff and Angus Scott, leveraged finance lawyer Richard Daniels and ECM lawyer Egor Marisin.
There were 17 promotions across continental Europe, including nine in Germany, where the firm recently saw its former continental Europe managing partner decamp to Latham & Watkins at the helm of a four-partner private equity team. There were also three promotions in Brussels, two each in Vienna and Paris and one in Amsterdam.
The US welcomed 13 new partners, including eight in New York, three in Washington DC and one each in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, where Jeremiah Nelson and Marissa Yu moved up, respectively, in the transactions team.
The firm has also been building up its US partner bench through an aggressive, multi-year hiring push concentrated on M&A and private capital. Recent recruits include partner Anna Gressel in New York, who joined from Paul Weiss as a litigation partner and global co-head of AI. Earlier last year, Freshfields also recruited Aly Love in Silicon Valley from Debevoise & Plimpton to co-head the US tech and life sciences M&A practice.
“This group of new partners represent the calibre of talent and leadership that defines our ambition for the future,” said Freshfields’ senior partner, Georgia Dawson. “We’re future-proofing our business and building a firm confident enough to evolve and ambitious enough to lead the market over the long term. Our new partners will be instrumental in ensuring we remain a destination for the world’s leading clients and talent.”
Around half of those promoted are women, meaning 2026 would have marked the sixth year in a row Freshfields had beaten a previously stated target that at least 40% of new partners be women.
The round includes 43 promotions effective from 1 May 2026, along with four partners promoted in recent months. A full list of the promotions can be found here.
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