Kirkland & Ellis has made up nine lawyers to partner in the US firm's London office.

The promotions, which are effective as of 1 October, are spread across several practice areas, including corporate, tax, funds, restructuring and arbitration.

Kirkland London office head Jim Learner (pictured) commented: "This reflects the fact that we continue to grow in London, and a number of people who have worked up the ranks here have now had the opportunity to be admitted. The nine lawyers who were promoted are all terrific candidates."

Kirkland currently has around 90 lawyers in its London office, constituting approximately 6% of the firm's global headcount. Last year the firm made up three City partners out of a firmwide total of 51 promotions.

The number of new City partners at Kirkland is unusually high, after a raft of US firms this year passed on London promotions. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett's most recent partnership round, announced in February this year, did not include any new partners outside of New York, while in December last year Shearman & Sterling made up just one City lawyer in a global total of seven promotions.

The promotions come after a number of major mandates for Kirkland in a relatively busy summer for corporate activity in the wake of the downturn.

Earlier this month the US firm took a lead role on the $3.2bn (£2bn) acquisition of the Royal Bank of Scotland's payment-processing unit WorldPay by Bain Capital and Advent International, advising Advent alongside Weil Gotshal & Manges.

The firm also won a role on The Blackstone Group's $4.7bn (£3bn) acquisition of energy company Dynegy, advising US power producer NRG Energy on its $1.36bn (£870m) purchase of Dynegy plants from Blackstone.