Norton Rose has announced its annual promotions, with 15 made up to partner, including four in the City.

The firm has made up seven senior associates, seven of counsel and one special counsel to its partnership ranks.

Five lawyers have been made up in the Asia-Pacific region, with two promotions in Canberra and one in each of Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. Continental Europe gets four new partners with promotions in Amsterdam, Athens, Munich and Paris. The Middle East, meanwhile, sees two new partners join the ranks.

Banking sees the biggest growth, with six new partners, while corporate finance gets four, dispute resolution three, with one in real estate and occupational health and safety.

Of the new partners, seven are female.

Chief executive Peter Martyr (pictured) commented: "The geographical spread and number of promotions reflect the continued enlargement of the group's practice internationally. We are particularly delighted that seven of the promotions are women".

The round marks an increase on last year when 11 lawyers were made up to partner, including the firm's first promotions in Australia and four in the City.

The bulk of the 2010 promotions were made in corporate, while the round as a whole was slightly smaller than 2009 when 12 lawyers joined the partnership.

Norton Rose partner promotions in full:

Ben Allen (dispute resolution, Canberra)
Eva-Maria Barbosa (corporate finance, Munich)
Arnaud Belisaire (banking, Paris)
Charlotte Bijlani (real estate, London)
Saskia Blokland (corporate finance, Amsterdam)
Andrew Buisson (banking, London)
Robert Driver (banking, Singapore)
Joanne Emerson-Taqi (banking, Bahrain)
Sun Hong (corporate finance, Shanghai)
Bill Kritharas (occupational health and safety, Canberra)
John Liberopoulos (dispute resolution, Athens)
Marnie Mcconnell (dispute resolution, Sydney)
Fiona Reilly (banking, London)
Arun Velusami (banking, London)
Dino Wilkinson (corporate finance, Abu Dhabi)