Stephenson Harwood and Irwin Mitchell have announced their new partner promotions, with the firms making up 11 lawyers to partner and one non-lawyer to a partner-equivalent role between them.

Stephenson Harwood has added four lawyers to its partnership, of which three are in the firm's Asian offices. Simon Moore and Daryll Ng join the marine and international trade practice in London and Singapore respectively, Ivan Tan joins the Hong Kong corporate practice and Hongkai Zhou the Hong Kong finance practice.

Meanwhile, Irwin Mitchell has made up seven lawyers to salaried partner and one non-lawyer to the salaried partner-equivalent of associate director across its Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle and Manchester offices. All bar one of the promotions are female, with the same number sitting within the firm's personal injury group.

The new promotions are Louise Jenkins, Julie Lewis, Angela Kirtley, Jennifer Cawthorne, Hilary Wetherall, Satinder Bains and non-lawyer Francesca Bryan, with private client partner Nigel Bolton the sole male in the group.

Stephenson Harwood and Irwin Mitchell's appointments come as CMS Cameron McKenna has made its largest round of equity partner promotions since overhauling its partnership structure four years ago – adding 10 to the equity.

This comes after the firm last year made up its first four equity partners since introducing a three-tier system in 2007 comprising equity, gateway and office partners. The firm also made up three new gateway partners, down from nine last year, and 16 office partners.

Camerons senior partner Dick Tyler said: "The fact that we have promoted 10 partners to the equity is a significant investment which shows our confidence in these partners and practice areas. It's a case of investing in our strengths."

Irwin Mitchell chief executive John Pickering (pictured) added: "The next 12 months could see some of the biggest changes in the legal sector's history but, as a firm, we feel we're in a 
strong position."