UK Magic Circle firm Linklaters has elevated 37 lawyers to partner in its latest promotions round, 14 of them in London.
The round included 16 women, 43% of the total and in line with previous years.
The overall cohort is larger than in the previous two years, when 34 and 27 were elevated respectively, though is slightly smaller than 2023’s 41-strong cohort.
Like last year, the corporate and litigation, arbitration and investigations practices had the most promotions, with seven each, followed by five apiece in banking and capital markets and four in antitrust and foreign investment. There were also three promotions in the investment funds practice, two in IP and one each in energy and infrastructure, executive compensation and employee benefits, tax and legal and risk.
In London, where the firm moved into a new global headquarters earlier this year, the promotions were spread across core practice areas including corporate, banking and finance and disputes. The firm also boosted its London partnership last summer with the high-profile hire of the co-chair of Paul Hastings’ London office, Mei Lian, to boost its private capital and credit solutions offering.
Mainland Europe was the second-largest region, with 12 promotions spread across the firm’s Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Paris, Luxembourg, Lisbon and Madrid offices. Seven lawyers also made the cut in Asia, including five in Hong Kong, one in Beijing and one in Singapore, where Xunming Lim moved up in the capital markets team.
The round was completed with four promotions in the US, including three in New York, where over the past few years Linklaters has hired top-flight teams across finance, M&A and litigation from US rivals. There was also a promotion in Washington DC, where Jonathan Gafni got the nod in the US foreign investment team.
“This year’s cohort is an outstanding group of lawyers,” said Linklaters’ senior partner and chair, Aedamar Comiskey. “They already play a key role in supporting our clients and will be instrumental in strengthening our global platform.”
The promotions are effective 1 May 2026.
The full list of partners
Martin Arnal, Private Equity, London
Sara Arrow, Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations, New York
Atif Bhatti, Intellectual Property, Frankfurt
Matthieu Blayney, Antitrust & Foreign Investment, Paris
Samson Chan, Mainstream Corporate, China (Beijing/Shanghai)
Roberta Cheung, Restructuring & Insolvency, Hong Kong SAR
Shruti Chopra, Intellectual Property, New York
Gareth Crimp, Investment Funds, London
Rebecca Dickie, Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations, London
Douglas Doherty, Banking, Hong Kong SAR
Christian Felton, Capital Markets, Hong Kong SAR
Jonathan Gafni, US Foreign Investment, Washington, DC
Raquel Galvão Silva
Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations, Lisbon
Tom Gavin, Private Equity and Capital Solutions, London
Kaan Gürer, Antitrust & Foreign Investment, Düsseldorf
Lars Harzmeier, Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations, Frankfurt
Leïla Juvin, Tax & Investment Funds, Paris
Michael Lamson, Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations, Hong Kong SAR
Janet M. Lee, Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits, New York
Xunming Lim, Capital Markets, Singapore
Fredrik Löwhagen, Antitrust & Foreign Investment, Madrid
Guillaume Malaty, Structured Finance, Paris
Julia Matthews, Restructuring & Insolvency, London
Fionna Ng, Mainstream Corporate, London
Aoife O'Reilly, Global Financial Crime and MLRO, London
Elenor Parkhouse. Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations, London
Martin Rojahn, Capital Markets, Frankfurt
Julia Rupp, Private Capital, Frankfurt
Rasha Sami, Energy & Infrastructure, London
Atish Shah, Banking, London
Jason Shardlow-Wrest, Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations, London
Emily Simmons, Investment Funds, London
Adrien Timmermans, Investment Funds, Luxembourg
Queenie Tong, Mainstream Corporate, Hong Kong SAR
Jorge Toral, Regulatory (Public Law) & Projects, Madrid
Tarini Wettimuny, Leveraged Finance, London
Sebastian Witte, Capital Markets, London
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
