Taylor Wessing has elevated 10 lawyers to partner in its latest promotions round, its lowest cohort for five years.

The 2025 class intake is almost 50% lower than last year, when 18 made the grade. It is also below the 14 that were promoted in 2023 and 2022, and the 12 that were made up in 2021. The last time it was lower was in 2020 when five made the cut, the same year the firm overhauled its UK partnership structure to add a junior tier of fixed-share equity partners.

Just over half of the new partners are women (six), compared to 44% last year. The bulk of the promotions (seven) will take effect from 1 May, while Marie Keup in Belgium and Martijn Loth in the Netherlands were promoted at the start of the year. Austrian banking and finance lawyer Carmen Redmann-Wippel was promoted at the start of February.

Global co-chair and UK managing partner Shane Gleghorn, who was re-elected to his third term last year, said: “These promotions will significantly strengthen our key practice areas of corporate, disputes, regulatory, IP, patents, real estate and banking and finance.”

Of the 10 new partners, four are based in the firm’s London office – tech and IP lawyer Clare Reynolds, patents specialist Andrew Payne, corporate real estate and private capital lawyer Lacy Gratton and tech and life sciences lawyer Richard Faichney.

There were also two promotions in Ireland – corporate lawyer Dannie Hanna and tech and IP lawyer Jo Joyce, the first internal partner promotions in Dublin since the office opened in 2021.

Writing on LinkedIn, Dublin founding partner Órlaith Molloy said: “It’s a great milestone for the whole team and well deserved for two fantastic colleagues.”

Germany, which had accounted for seven promotions last year, saw one promotion – TMT lawyer Johanna Götz.

The firm also announced 10 new counsel, all based in the UK apart from one appointment in the UAE.

Gleghorn’s German counterpart, Oliver Bertram, co-chair and German managing partner, said: “We are proud to welcome such a talented group of lawyers to the partnership. Their appointment underscores our dedication to excellence and our commitment to supporting industries that shape the future of business.”

In March, the firm announced a strategic alliance with 29-partner Italian commercial firm Orsingher Ortu, which has offices in Rome and Milan, while it also restructured its Chinese operations to focus work on Shanghai and Shenzen.

Taylor Wessing was also boosted this month by the arrival of former DWF banking partner Matt Williams, who will focus on M&A, special situations and other restructuring and corporate finance matters, as well as expertise in debt and equity capital markets.

Williams’ experience includes loan sales, regulatory capital advice, the transactional aspects of litigation funding, sponsor-side corporate work and private credit. He departed DWF after four years, having previously been a partner at Womble Bond Dickinson, with additional experience at Ashurst, Lloyds Bank, Hogan Lovells and Slaughter and May. Taylor Wessing’s previous lateral partner hire was litigator Parham Kouchikali from RPC in July.

Recent departures include the venture capital partner Angus Miln, who joined Cooley in London last September, and disputes partner Laurence Lieberman, who moved to Pillsbury in November.