Herbert Smith has announced its 2012 partner promotions, with the firm making up 10 lawyers, three of which will be based full-time in the City.

The majority of the promotions, which take effect from 1 May, are in the firm's corporate and dispute resolution practices, which each gain four new partners. The remaining two promotions are in the tax and competition practices.

Five of the new partners are currently based in London, but one of these will split his time between London and Madrid, and another is expected to move to one of the firm's Asian offices.

Meanwhile, Moscow gains two new partners and Doha, Paris and Tokyo gain one apiece.

The haul is smaller than last year's promotion round when Herbert Smith added 13 lawyers to its partnership, including six in the City.

Herbert Smith senior partner Jonathan Scott said: "This year's promotions reflect the deep bench of talent across our international network.

"They have joined the partnership at an exciting period in the firm's development and I know each will play their full part in helping to ensure our distinctive practice balance remains a draw-card for clients across both developed and emerging markets."

The news comes as Herbert Smith is currently in talks with Australia's Freehills over a tie-up that could see the firms' enter into a full financial merger. The UK firm is also planning its own offices in New York, Germany and Africa in the wake of the collapse of its alliance with Stibbe and Gleiss Lutz in November last year.

Herbert Smith 2012 promotions in full:

Corporate
Joanna Addison (Doha)
Robert Moore (London)
Graeme Preston (Tokyo)
Tomasz Wozniak (Moscow)

Dispute resolution
Clement Dupoirier (Paris)
Christian Leathley (London/Madrid)
Vladimir Melnikov (Moscow)
James Norris-Jones (London)

Competition
Mark Jephcott (London – relocating to Asia)