Property specialist firm Forsters has announced its annual partner promotions, with three lawyers made up to the partnership.

The appointments, which are effective from 1 April, will take the total number of partners at the firm to 39.

Tim Taylor has been promoted to partner and will now lead Forsters' planning practice, with current head Michael Cunliffe stepping down to take up a role as a consultant at the firm.

Elsewhere, Rupert Mead and Peter Golden have been made up to partner in the private client group.

Managing partner Paul Roberts said: "These partner promotions are reflective of growth areas in our business. Things are going well at the moment and we have started to see a pick-up after the property slump of the past few years.

"We expect to be at least 20% up in turnover in the property group at the end of this financial year, with an overall revenue increase of 12%. We are ahead of budget and confident of an upward trend from here."

The promotions mark a slight decrease on last year's round when four lawyers were made up to partner, with two in litigation, one in commercial property and one in property finance.

Taylor will be the only partner in the planning group, while Mead and Golden take the total number of partners in the private client practice to 14.