Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has unveiled an increased 22-strong global partner promotions round for 2019, however this includes a reduction in London appointments.
Overall, it is a significantly larger round than last year, when 17 lawyers were promoted globally, with six in London. But the promotions, effective 1 May 2019, see only four partners minted in London, with six each made up in EMEA, Asia and Australia.
Eight of the 22 new partners are female, equal to 36%. Although the proportion of female promotions is better than many firms, it is still a sharp fall from 2018, where an overwhelming majority (82%, 14 out of 17) were female.
Of the four London promotions, half of them qualify into the firm’s finance practice: Pedro Rufino Carvalho, who specialises in energy and infrastructure finance, and John Chetwood, who offers restructuring and insolvency expertise.
Miriam Everett, who has a data protection and privacy slant, will be an addition to HSF’s City corporate practice. Rounding off the London promotions, Chris Ninan qualifies into the firm’s esteemed disputes group with a background in financial services regulation.
HSF chief executive Mark Rigotti (pictured) described the new partners as ‘future leaders of our firm’ and added: ‘These new partners are outstanding lawyers and have built deep relationships with clients, developed a wealth of expertise, and demonstrated a real understanding of our firm values and culture. Their diverse skills and experiences will further enhance the strength of our global network.’
Last week, UK top-25 competitors Eversheds Sutherland and Fieldfisher unveiled their partnership rounds, with the firms globally promoting 27 and 17 partners respectively.
The full list of HSF partner promotions:
Pedro Rufino Carvalho, finance, London
John Chetwood, finance, London
Miriam Everett, corporate, London
Chris Ninan, disputes, London
Marius Boewe, competition, Düsseldorf
Tomás Díaz Mielenhausen, real estate, Madrid
Laurence Franc-Menget, disputes, Paris
Marcel Nuys, competition, Düsseldorf
Nick Oury, disputes, Dubai
Daniel Vowden, competition, Brussels
Jeremy Birch, disputes, Hong Kong
Natalie Curtis, disputes, Singapore
Tomas Furlong, disputes, Singapore
Matthew Goerke, corporate, Jakarta
Calvin Ho, corporate, Beijing
Adelaide Luke, competition, Hong Kong
Adam Charles, corporate, Melbourne
Kate S Cahill, disputes, Sydney
Natalie Gaspar, employment, Melbourne
Katherine Gregor, corporate, Melbourne
Melissa Swain-Tonkin, corporate, Brisbane
Kwok Tang, corporate, Sydney