SJ Berwin has made up five lawyers to its partnership as part of its annual promotion round, with its City headquarters gaining the bulk of the promotions.

The four new City partners are split between the corporate, litigation and finance practices, with corporate winning two new partners and the others gaining one apiece.

The round also includes a new partner in Frankfurt, with the promotion of intellectual property, IT and commercial lawyer Manuela Finger.

All of the promotions take effect from tomorrow (1 May), with the number of new partners significantly smaller than the equivalent round in May 2011. However SJ Berwin also made up four new partners in an out of season round in September last year in the wake of the departure of an eight lawyer funds team to Proskauer Rose, led by Nigel van Zyl.

SJ Berwin managing partner Rob Day said: "Recognising, developing and promoting talent within our firm is a key part of our growth strategy, shown not only by the promotion of these five quality individuals but also our four funds promotions in September."

"They demonstrate the level of drive we see across the firm as we continue to execute our strategy to strengthen our core areas, grow our countercyclical practices and institutionalise our client relationships."

News of the promotions comes as the firm has also hired a lateral partner in Munich with finance partner Wolfgang Graf von Schoenborn set to join from Paul Hastings in Frankfurt, where he has been a partner since 2008.

Jonathan Blake (pictured), who is today serving his last day as senior partner of SJ Berwin, before handing over the position to Stephen Kon tomorrow, commented: "Our clients' support for our promotion candidates and the hire of Wolfgang has been overwhelming. It is a great credit to the individuals and firm that they are so highly regarded and another step in achieving our strategy of strength and depth across our international platform. "

SJ Berwin partner promotions in full

Warren Allan – London, corporate
Andrew Wingfield – London, corporate
Louise Freeman – London, litigation
Simon Fulbrook – London, finance
Manuela Finger – Frankfurt, IP/IT/commercial