Macfarlanes has announced its annual partner promotions, with five new lawyers made up in an increase on last year's round.

The promotions have seen Alex Amos made up in the funds practice, Nicholas Barclay in corporate, Oliver Court in private client, Michael Ranson in the private client property practice and Will Sykes in the derivatives and funds group.

The number of new partners marks a slight increase on last year, when four lawyers were added to the partnership and is the largest round the firm has seen since 2008 when Macfarlanes also promoted a five-strong group. The promotions are effective as of 1 May.

Macfarlanes senior partner Charles Martin (pictured) said: "We are continuing to make up partners in London in response to the business need that we are seeing, as well as the strength of the candidates we have that are coming through."

The news comes after a number of lateral hires for the City firm in recent months, with Addleshaw Goddard corporate partner James Dawson set to join the firm in the coming weeks. The firm also took over specialist hedge fund law firm D Harris & Co International in January this year in a bid to grow its footprint in the hedge fund market.

Martin added: "As we head towards the year end we feel positive about the business flow that we are seeing across the firm. We have also made a few lateral hires in the last year as we identify new areas for the firm to grow into, strengthening our existing core areas and taking advantage of some terrific market opportunities.

"We expect there may be a small number of further hires this year in our core areas; however, we will always prioritise internal promotions over external hiring."

Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Wiggin have all also announced their partner promotions today (30 March).

Slaughters has added two lawyers to its senior ranks with financing lawyer Ed Fife made up in London and dispute resolution lawyer Mark Hughes promoted in Hong Kong, while A&O has made up 23.

Meanwhile, Wiggin has promoted three lawyers to its partnership, with Sarah Bing and Guy Sheppard made up in the film and TV group and Neil Parkes in the litigation practice.