Bird & Bird has made up one female partner as part of an annual promotion round three times larger than last year, with Watson Farley & Williams and Ince & Co both also announcing their new partners.

Bird & Bird has made up nine new partners globally, up from three last year, with the number including four lawyers in London.

Four of the new partners are split across the firm's continental European offices, with the remaining partner to split his time between Hong Kong and Beijing.

The IP practice has seen the largest boost to its ranks, with the addition of five new partners.

Employment partner Nathalie Devernay, based in Lyon, is the only woman in the group.

Bird & Bird has also promoted 15 lawyers to counsel and three to legal director.

Watson Farley meanwhile has made up eight new partners worldwide, comprising three in London, two apiece in Singapore and Hamburg and one in Athens. In 2015, the firm made up seven new partners.

The enhanced promotion rounds at Bird & Bird and Watson Farley contrast with Ince & Co, where the firm has added just two new partners.

Mona Patel, a corporate and commercial lawyer in London, has been promoted from senior associate to partner. Pavlo Samothrakis, a shipping and energy lawyer in Dubai, also joined the partnership on 1 May – his promotion was first announced last week.

In addition to those promotions, Ince has also made five out-of-season partner promotions since June 2015. Mohamed El Hawawy, a contentious shipping lawyer in Dubai; Beatrice Russ, a London finance lawyer; Christopher Quandt, a corporate lawyer in Hamburg; Devandran Karunakaran, a finance lawyer in Singapore; and Laurence Hanley, an aviation finance lawyer in Paris, have all joined the partnership.

In April 2015, Ince carried out a partnership restructuring that led to six exits and has since adopted a strategy focused on bolstering the transactional side of the business.

Bird & Bird 2016 partner promotions in full:

Ali Ramadan – corporate, London
Antonio Cueto – intellectual property, Madrid
Jonathan Emmanuel – commercial, London
David Allison – intellectual property, Hong Kong/Beijing
Jan Berg – corporate, Stockholm
Nathalie Devernay – employment, Lyon
Nick Aries – intellectual property, London
Roberto Camilli – intellectual property, Milan
Tim Harris – intellectual property, London

Watson Farley partner promotions in full:

Shawn Er – asset finance, Singapore
Christian Finnern – asset finance, Hamburg
Hetan Ganatra – real estate, London
Vassiliki Georgopoulos – asset finance, Athens
Chien Herr Lee – asset finance, Singapore
Lucy Shtenko – asset finance, London
Gary Walsh – asset finance, London
Andreas Wiegraffe – employment, Hamburg

Bird & Bird has made up one female partner as part of an annual promotion round three times larger than last year, with Watson Farley & Williams and Ince & Co both also announcing their new partners.

Bird & Bird has made up nine new partners globally, up from three last year, with the number including four lawyers in London.

Four of the new partners are split across the firm's continental European offices, with the remaining partner to split his time between Hong Kong and Beijing.

The IP practice has seen the largest boost to its ranks, with the addition of five new partners.

Employment partner Nathalie Devernay, based in Lyon, is the only woman in the group.

Bird & Bird has also promoted 15 lawyers to counsel and three to legal director.

Watson Farley meanwhile has made up eight new partners worldwide, comprising three in London, two apiece in Singapore and Hamburg and one in Athens. In 2015, the firm made up seven new partners.

The enhanced promotion rounds at Bird & Bird and Watson Farley contrast with Ince & Co, where the firm has added just two new partners.

Mona Patel, a corporate and commercial lawyer in London, has been promoted from senior associate to partner. Pavlo Samothrakis, a shipping and energy lawyer in Dubai, also joined the partnership on 1 May – his promotion was first announced last week.

In addition to those promotions, Ince has also made five out-of-season partner promotions since June 2015. Mohamed El Hawawy, a contentious shipping lawyer in Dubai; Beatrice Russ, a London finance lawyer; Christopher Quandt, a corporate lawyer in Hamburg; Devandran Karunakaran, a finance lawyer in Singapore; and Laurence Hanley, an aviation finance lawyer in Paris, have all joined the partnership.

In April 2015, Ince carried out a partnership restructuring that led to six exits and has since adopted a strategy focused on bolstering the transactional side of the business.

Bird & Bird 2016 partner promotions in full:

Ali Ramadan – corporate, London
Antonio Cueto – intellectual property, Madrid
Jonathan Emmanuel – commercial, London
David Allison – intellectual property, Hong Kong/Beijing
Jan Berg – corporate, Stockholm
Nathalie Devernay – employment, Lyon
Nick Aries – intellectual property, London
Roberto Camilli – intellectual property, Milan
Tim Harris – intellectual property, London

Watson Farley partner promotions in full:

Shawn Er – asset finance, Singapore
Christian Finnern – asset finance, Hamburg
Hetan Ganatra – real estate, London
Vassiliki Georgopoulos – asset finance, Athens
Chien Herr Lee – asset finance, Singapore
Lucy Shtenko – asset finance, London
Gary Walsh – asset finance, London
Andreas Wiegraffe – employment, Hamburg