Top 10 global law firm White & Case has appointed 46 lawyers to partnership in its annual promotion round, with women making up 52% of the total, up from 31% last year.

The latest group of promotions are spread across 10 practices and 15 countries – 35% in the Americas, 54% in Europe, Middle East and Africa and 11% in Asia Pacific. That is a slight drop on 2021’s record promotion round, when 59 were elevated to the partnership, though the EMEA region also accounted for 54% of that cohort. This year’s crop will assume their new roles at the start of January.

The firm’s M&A practice accounted for the biggest share of this year’s intake, with 18 M&A lawyers making the cut. The project development and finance practice saw the second highest number of partner promotions with eight, followed by the international arbitration practice, which elevated five. Capital markets accounted for four, while debt finance and commercial litigation accounted for three promotions each. 

London saw the most partner promotions with 10, including M&A lawyers Kristen DiLemmo, Helen Pantelides, Tom Pound and Lisa Seifman. There were also multiple promotions in New York (five), with three each in Dubai, Chicago and Washington DC and two each in Frankfurt, Melbourne, Silicon Valley, Prague, Miami, Helsinki, Warsaw and Hong Kong. M&A lawyers Shino Asayama in Tokyo and Carlos Daroca in Madrid also made the grade.

Hugh Verrier, chair of White & Case, said: “Addressing our clients’ long-term needs requires a commitment to grow and maintain a highly skilled, diverse team of partners who are leaders in their fields.”

The firm has also been increasing its London partner headcount through a series of lateral hires since the start of last year. Most recently, it hired M&A partner Di Yu from Slaughter and May – its eighth M&A partner recruit in the City over the past 22 months. Since 2015, the London partner headcount has increased by 56% to 125.

Back in February, the firm posted a 20% hike in annual revenue to $2.87bn, with profit per equity partner rising to $3.5m in 2021.