Baker McKenzie has promoted six in the City as part of a scaled down global promotion round which saw 68 lawyers minted, 15% fewer than last year’s 80.
Together with 53 laterals during this financial year, the promotions mean partner numbers at the firm hit 1,600.
Of the new partners, 40% are women. With more than 400 women among its global partnership ranks, the firm claimed it had the largest female partnership of any law firm.
Global chair Paul Rawlinson (pictured) told Legal Business that for a firm of the size of Bakers the numbers were only marginally down on last year’s round. He added that what made the firm’s approach to promotions special was its distribution of partners across offices: ‘I don’t think any other firm has this approach of seeking to be a dominant player across Asia and the Americas in the same way that we do. It is a pretty strong makeup of partners across the world.’
The firm’s traditionally strong tax practice saw the largest intake at 14, but M&A was a close second with 13 getting the nod, in line with Rawlinson’s push to beef up the firm’s transactional ranks. Disputes saw the number of new partners halved, with eight minted compared to last year’s 16.
‘M&A, disputes and tax are our three core areas,’ said Rawlinson.
Despite global promotions being down this year, the number of lawyers promoted in the City was up by one on last year.
Richard Needham was promoted in the M&A team and Jeremy Levy in banking, while the tax group saw two minted – Jessica Eden and David Jamieson. London promotions also included Jessica Le Gros in IP and Jonathan Sharp in employment.
‘This a significant number of new promotions for London which, alongside our recent lateral hires, reflects that we are well and truly in growth mode,’ said London managing partner Alex Chadwick.
The firm’s London office also added a number of partners laterally this year, including former Clifford Chance corporate partner Kathy Honeywood.
The promotions in North America took effect on 1 January 2018 while the others will take effect on 1 July 2018
The full list of the newly elected partners is as follows:
Antitrust & Competition
Fang-Yi Jen (Taipei)
Joost Haans (Brussels)
Catherine Koh Stillman (New York)
Banking & Finance
Kullarat Phongsathaporn (Bangkok)
David Cooper (Sydney)
Jeremy Levy (London)
Juan Carlos Gonzalez Novo (Chicago)
Capital Markets
Ivy Tun Kei Wong (Hong Kong)
Kowit Adireksombat (Bangkok)
Kammalard Urapeepatanapong (Bangkok)
Steve J. Park (Houston)
Ora Wexler (Toronto)
Dispute Resolution
Tjen Wee Wong (Singapore)
Robert Lee (Taipei)
Luca Beffa (Geneva)
Dr. Nicolai Behr (Munich)
Anton Mikel (Riyadh)
Cristina Mejia (Bogota)
Jennifer B. Seale (Washington, DC)
Ahmed Shafey (Toronto)
Employment & Compensation
Pamela Tsai (Taipei)
Stephen Hardy (Sydney)
Kellie-Ann McDade (Melbourne)
Jonathan Sharp (London)
Margarita Fernández (Madrid)
Nadège Dallais (Paris)
Christopher Burkett (Toronto)
International Commercial & Trade
Kerry B. Contini (Washington, DC)
José Hoyos-Robles (Mexico City)
Richard L. White (Dallas)
Intellectual Property
Jessica Le Gros (London)
Matt Dushek (Washington, DC)
Benjamin (Ben) B. Kelly (Dallas)
Carlos Alberto Vela-Treviño (Mexico City)
IT & Communications
Dr. Michaela Nebel (Frankfurt)
Mergers & Acquisitions
Jeremy Ong (Hong Kong)
Stephanie Phua (Kuala Lumpur)
Ee Von Teo (Kuala Lumpur)
Olha Demianiuk (Kyiv)
Sergei Lomakin (Moscow)
Jingjin Guo (Geneva)
Dr. Björn Simon (Frankfurt)
Caner Elmas (Istanbul)
Duygu Gultekin (Istanbul)
Richard Needham (London)
Elodie Duchêne (Luxembourg)
Aurélie Govillé (Paris)
Christina M. Bullock (Chicago)
Private Equity
Omar J. Iqbal (Riyadh)
Projects
Kate Phillips (Melbourne)
Samir S. Desai (Tokyo)
Real Estate
Taijiro Suzuki (Tokyo)
Olivier Ducrey (Geneva)
Brian Zurawski (Chicago)
Tax
Michael Nixon (Singapore)
Jason Wen (Fenxun Beijing)
Simone Bridges (Sydney)
Kirill Vikulov (Moscow)
David Jamieson (London)
Jessica Eden (London)
Rodrigo Castillo Cottin (Bogota)
Paul F. DePasquale (New York)
Tatyana Johnson (New York)
Victor Alejandro Morales-Chavez (Mexico City)
Jonathan Welbel (Chicago)
Joshua Nixt (New York)
Andrew C. O’Brien-Penney (Chicago)
Ivan Tsios (Chicago)
For more on Paul Rawlinson’s strategy for Baker McKenzie see Waking the Giant
