Lovells has made up 21 lawyers in the its annual promotions round, with five new partners promoted in the City.

The total of 21 is an increase of two on last year, but 10 adrift of 2007′s bumper round of 31.

The promotions mean that when the merger with Hogan & Hartson goes live on 1 May the firm will boast more than 800 partners worldwide.

The majority of the new partners come in the firm's continental Europe offices with 10 promotions across Milan, Madrid, Paris, Munich, Hamburg and Duesseldorf.

Lovells' City arm has received five new partners – one fewer than 2009 – spread across the firm's employment, project finance, corporate and corporate finance practice.

Outside of Europe, three lawyers have been made up in Hong Kong with one apiece in Shanghai, Dubai and Hamburg.

Practice-wise, corporate – which includes corporate finance, commercial and real estate – receives the lion's share of the promotions with seven new partners. Four come under the finance banner, which takes in banking and restructuring.

The firm's litigation practice, which will also cover employment when the Hogan merger is confirmed, receives five new partners, while five more have been made up in the intellectual property, media and technology practice.

Senior partner John Young commented: "These appointments acknowledge the hard work of each individual during very challenging economic times. As we launch the new firm, Hogan Lovells, on 1 May, we will continue to invest in the associate community, to ensure legal talent rises to the top for the benefit of our clients around the world."

Lovells promotions in full:

Ed Bowyer – employment, London
Ana Castedo – intellectual property, media & technology (IPMT), Madrid
Christopher Cross – project finance, London (pictured)
Dirk Debald – real estate, Hamburg
Cecile Derycke – ltigation (product liability/life sciences), Paris
Christopher Dobby – litigation, Hong Kong
James Fong – corporate, Hong Kong
Christian Herweg – business restructuring and insolvency (BRI), Munich
Paul Joukador – corporate (including commercial), London
Sebastian Lach – litigation (product liability), Munich
Geoffrey Lin – IPMT, Shanghai
Kim Mehrbrey, litigation, Dusseldorf
Imran Mufti – banking, Dubai
Kelly Naphtali – BRI, Hong Kong
Amit Nayyar – corporate, London
Morten Petersenn – IPMT, Hamburg
Alessandro Piermanni – corporate, Milan
Guy Potel – corporate finance, London
Steffen Steininger – IPMT, Munich
Deanna Wong – IPMT, Hong Kong
Nikolas Zirngibl – corporate, Munich