Ashurst falls short of 40 per cent female target in 19-strong promotions round

Ashurst has promoted four women to partner out of 19, falling short of its target to ensure that 40 per cent of promotions would be female by 2018.

The firm set the target in 2014 in the firm’s first board meeting since its full financial merger with Blake Dawson.

This year, women account for just 21 per cent of newly-promoted partners.

Ashurst reached the 40 per cent target in its 2015 promotions round but has not achieved it since. Last year, women accounted for 33 per cent of global promotions.

The round of 19 is larger than last year, in which just 12 new partners were made up. A total of 20 partners were promoted in 2015 – its largest round since the merger went live.

This year, the firm has promoted an equal number of partners in both UK and Australia – the first time this has happened since the firm’s 2013 merger.

In total, the firm made up 19 new partners, with seven promoted in London and seven across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney.

A further three have been made up in Continental Europe, along with two new lawyers in Hong Kong and Singapore.

New partners in London include corporate lawyers Simon Bullock and James Fletcher, as well as securities specialists Alex Biles and Malcolm Charles. There are further promotions in the firm’s banking, employment and resources groups (Callum McPherson, Ruth Buchanan and Anthony Johnson respectively).

Just two of the City cohort trained at the firm – these are Simon Bullock and James Fletcher.

A total of 42 per cent of the new partners are in the firm’s corporate group, 32 per cent sit in finance and 26 per cent handles disputes work.

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