Bingham McCutchen has promoted two City lawyers in its annual partnership round as US litigator Geoffrey Aronow leaves the firm to become general counsel at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The US firm's 13-strong partner promotions round has seen lawyers made up in London, Frankfurt, Hartford, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo and Washington DC, across a range of practices including corporate, estate planning, financial restructuring and investment management.

In the UK, London financial restructuring lawyers Emma Simmonds and Christian Halasz have been made partner.

Simmonds acts for clients including insurance companies, pension funds and hedge funds on distressed debt matters, while Halasz, who splits his time between London and Frankfurt, specialises in cross-border restructurings and workouts in Germany, Europe and the US.

Meanwhile, Washington DC-based partner Aronow, who joined Bingham in 2008 from now defunct US firm Heller Ehrman, is leaving the firm to succeed Mark Cahn as SEC GC.

Aronow previously worked as a an enforcement director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission between 1995 and 1999, and is also a former partner at US firm Arnold & Porter.

Former SEC deputy GC Cahn, who was promoted to the top role in February 2011, left the regulator last week to return to the private sector.

SEC chairman Elisse Walter, who was recently appointed by US president Barack Obama to succeed Mary Schapiro, said: "Geoff brings the ideal combination of practical knowledge, expertise, and common sense that is so critical to addressing the often nuanced and difficult issues that come before the Commission."

Bingham partner promotions in full

Peter Pound, broker-dealer, Boston
Paul Tyrrell, broker-dealer, Boston
Janice Liu, corporate, Los Angeles
Camarin Madigan, environment, land use and natural resources, San Fransisco
Duke McCall, environment, land use and natural resources, Washington DC
Leila Dal Pos, estate planning, Boston
William Goddard, financial restructuring, Hartford
Christian Halasz, financial restructuring, Frankfurt and London
Emma Simmonds, financial restructuring, London
Axel Vogelmann, financial restructuring, Frankfurt
Michelle Cirillo, investment management, Boston
Goh Aizawa, Japanese practice, Tokyo
Yukari Murayama, Japanese practice, Tokyo