The magic circle firms have in recent weeks been through their 2019 round of promotions, the last to announce was Clifford Chance last week with 30 lawyers. Magic circle firms highlighted their female cohorts, except for one, but only two of nine legal firms made the Top 50 Times list. Out of 129 promotions announced, 49 were women; roughly 38 per cent.

The Times Top 50 Employers for Women

Among all law firms listed, Ashurst dropped out of the top 50 list this year while Pinsent Masons found its way onto the list. Outside of the magic circle, firms in the 2019 top 50 list are seven firms: Addleshaw Goddard, CMS, Eversheds Sutherland, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright, Pinsent Masons, and Simmons & Simmons. Those outside the magic circle in the 2018 list also totaled seven: Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst, CMS, Eversheds Sutherland, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright, Simmons & Simmons.

Allen & Overy: 15 out of 38

Allen & Overy announced 38 counsel promotions, of whom 15 are women. Significantly, the firm entered into The Times Top 50 Employers for Women for the first time. Wim Dejonghe, senior partner at A&O, commented “making progress on diversity, particularly gender diversity, has been a focus of ours for some time so we are very proud that our work has been recognised in this prestigious list. While we have seen positive change within A&O we are not at the end of our journey on diversity, and it will take time to achieve our goals, but this recognition is a strong sign that we are on the right track.”

Clifford Chance: 10 out of 30

Clifford Chance noted one-third of their new cohort are women. The firm has said it is working towards raising the percentage of female partners from the current 20 per cent to 30 per cent. Matthew Layton, global managing partner, commented the appointments “reflect our commitment to ensure that the diversity of our partnership develops to reflect the rich pool of talent across our global firm today.”

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer: 6 out of 22

Freshfields elected 22 new partners, six of whom are women. The appointments are drawn from 11 of the firm’s offices. Freshfields’ senior partner, Edward Braham said, “Our clients are facing increasingly complex challenges in today’s changing world, requiring global expertise and experience.  Our new partners will play an important role in delivering the advice our clients want, wherever in the world that may be needed.”

Linklaters: 18 out of 37

Over at Linklaters, 37 featured in new counsel elections across 12 jurisdictions and 11 practice areas, with almost half of the new counsel women with 18 new female counsel (49%). The new promotions take effect on 1st May 2019. Charlie Jacobs, senior partner and chairman, said “I am pleased to see that the gender split in our new counsel election is almost 50% female, emphasising the value we place on our commitment to gender diversity.” Linklaters named last week in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2019 for the sixth consecutive year. Claudia Parzani, partner and executive champion for gender equality at Linklaters, said “This is a fantastic achievement reflecting our ongoing efforts and determination to achieve workplace gender equality through a lot of initiatives and programmes aimed to move us towards greater diversity.”

Slaughter and May: 0 out of 2

There were no women in the Slaughter and May list as the firm only announced the appointment of two new partners last month; Harry Bacon in London and Jing Chen in Hong Kong.