US firm Bryan Cave has promoted London corporate lawyer Andrew Hart (pictured) to partner ahead of its proposed merger with Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), as Bird & Bird makes up three new partners outside of its regular promotions round.

At Bryan Cave, Hart is the only new partner to have been made up outside of the US, where 12 other lawyers have been promoted across Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Irvine, New York, St Louis and Washington.

Hart focuses on domestic and cross-border transactions including M&A, joint ventures and equity and debt capital issues, and has been with the firm for four years. Prior to joining Bryan Cave, he was a senior associate at Australian firm Clayton Utz and a solicitor at legacy Finers Stephens Innocent (now Howard Kennedy).

BLP's partners are expecting to vote on a merger with Bryan Cave next month. The proposed tie-up would create a 1,500-lawyer firm with combined revenues of about £730m, and 32 offices in 12 countries around the world. The deal is subject to the resolution of conflict issues and approval by partners at both firms.

Elsewhere, Bird & Bird has made three out-of-season partner promotions in its European offices, with new partners made up in the Netherlands, Poland and Germany.

Tax lawyer Arnoud Knijnenburg has been made up in the firm's office in The Hague, while intellectual property specialist Marta Koremba has joined the partnership in Warsaw. Hermann Rothfuchs, who has a focus on energy and utilities, has been made up in Munich.

The promotions take the number of partners at the firm up to 294. The firm has also made up one senior counsel and five counsel across its Finland, Poland and Singapore offices.

Bryan Cave 2017 partner promotions in full:

London Andrew Hart – corporate

Atlanta Kenneth Achenbach – regulatory compliance/risk Amy Taylor Wilson – M&A

Chicago Karl Marschel – real estate

Dallas Amy Simpson – real estate

Denver Desmonne Bennett – antitrust/competition litigation

Irvine Julie Westcott O'Dell – employment Kamao Shaw – banking

New York Alexander Walden – intellectual property

St. Louis Jessica Edwards – tax Stefan Mallen – commercial litigation Michael Schwartz – M&A

Washington DC Megan Gajewski Barnhill – regulatory