A&O makes up six City partners out of 21 worldwide

Allen & Overy (A&O) has made up six City lawyers in a 21-strong global promotions round, with the number of women promoted falling from last year.

Over half of the magic circle firm’s promotions were made in Europe, with six City-based lawyers making the cut alongside a Paris and Frankfurt duo. One lawyer was also made up in Amsterdam.

Nearly half of the global promotions are in the banking practice.

London-based litigation counsel Kate Davies moved to the firm from WilmerHale two years ago, while senior associate Matt Moore is one of three banking lawyers to have been made up in this year’s round. Moore originally trained at CMS Cameron McKenna.

Other promotions in the banking team include counsel Kate Sumpter and senior associate Darren Hanwell. Sumpter was previously a lawyer at Clifford Chance, while Hanwell trained at A&O.

Corporate senior associate Jane Higgins, who has been with the firm since 2007, and tax senior associate James Burton have also been promoted to partner in London.

Six women have been promoted in this year’s round, equivalent to 29 per cent of the total promotions.

The figure is down on last year when A&O made up nine women to its partnership, or 40 per cent of the total promotions. It came after the firm considered introducing a 20 per cent female partnership target by 2020 to promote gender diversity.

After Europe, the Asia-Pacific region has seen the highest number of promotions with seven lawyers made up across Hong Kong, Jakarta, Perth, Singapore and Sydney.