Noerr has announced its annual partner promotions with seven made up to the firm's equity, including London co-head Thomas Heitzer.

The partners joining the equity alongside Heitzer are Florian Becker (M&A) and Marco Winterer (real estate) in Munich, energy head Christof Federwisch and Oliver Trautmann (tax) in Frankfurt, Moscow head Bjoern Paulsen and Sascha Leske (tax) in Berlin.

Noerr launched an office in London in October last year, marking the firm's 14th base around the world.

In addition, five lawyers have been promoted to the rank of salaried partner with two in Munich and one each in the firm's Warsaw, Moscow and Frankfurt offices.

The new partners are Jacek Bak (banking and finance, Warsaw), Thomas Mundry (corporate, Moscow), Wolf Stumpf (banking, Frankfurt) and Helmut Katschthaler and Sabine Klett in the insurance and reinsurance and corporate practices respectively in Munich.

Noerr co-managing partner Tobias Buergers said: "The satisfactory business development and the great potential in entrepreneurial talent has made the admission of so many partners possible.

"Our approach for the future will be to continue to grow in strategically important areas. We deliberately offer career opportunities to ambitious young professionals."

The promotions mark a significant increase on last year's round, when three lawyers were made up to the partnership with just one joining the equity.