Allen & Overy (A&O) has made up just two women worldwide in a 24-strong promotions round.
The two new female partners are based in London and Hong Kong –banking lawyer Vanessa Xu and international capital markets lawyer Agnes Tsang.
Senior partner Wim Dejonghe hinted to The Lawyer earlier this year that the next two sets of promotions rounds would be “bad for diversity”.
The news prompted Dejonghe and managing partner Andrew Ballheimer to set new targets at the start of 2017 to ensure women account for 40 per cent of the future promotions pipeline by 2020.
This is the largest promotions round announced by A&O since 2008. Last year the firm made up six City lawyers in a 21-strong global promotions round in which women accounted for 29 per cent of promotions. In 2017, women account for 8 per cent of the new cohort.
The promotions take effect next month, with London accounting for the highest number of promotions this year – a total of 10.
In Continental Europe, A&O has made up six new partners in six different countries, while a trio has been promoted both in Sydney and Hong Kong.
There are further promotions in Istanbul and Jakarta.
A&O, traditionally regarded as a finance firm, has promoted more lawyers to its corporate division than its banking teams.
Corporate accounts for eight of the promotions, while banking has seen six new partners made up. There are four new international capital markets lawyers.
Four partners join the firm’s litigation team – although not in London. There is one new real estate partner and one new tax partner.
Nearly 50 per cent of the newly-promoted partners trained at the firm, including Tom Roberts, Nick Saner and Dominic Long in London.
Allen & Overy promotions 2017 – in full
| Frits Gerritzen | Amsterdam | Litigation |
| Peter van Dyck | Brussels | Corporate |
| Murad Daghles | Dusseldorf | Corporate |
| Jan Erik Windthorst | Frankfurt | Litigation |
| Michael Jacobs* | Hong Kong | Corporate |
| Agnes Tsang | Hong Kong | ICM |
| Patrick Wong | Hong Kong | Banking |
| Joe Clinton | Istanbul | Banking |
| Michael Tardif | Jakarta | Banking |
| Joel Ferguson | London | Banking |
| Neil Sinha | London | Banking |
| Vanessa Xu | London | Banking |
| Matthew Appleton | London | Corporate |
| Peter Banks | London | Corporate |
| Dominic Long | London | Corporate |
| Tom Constance | London | ICM |
| Daniel Fletcher | London | ICM |
| Tom Roberts | London | ICM |
| Nick Saner | London | Real Estate |
| Javier Castresana | Madrid | Litigation |
| Prokop Verner | Prague | Corporate |
| Connell O’Neill | Sydney | Corporate |
| Jason Gray | Sydney | Litigation |
| Ka Sen Wong | Sydney | Tax |
* Subject to work permit and completion of certain local regulatory formalities
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