White & Case has made up seven London lawyers in a 31-strong global partner promotions round.

Two of the seven new London partners are women – Kamilla Azamat (project finance, pictured above) and Rebecca Shorter (international arbitration). Last year, when the firm made up 40 lawyers to the partnership, half of the eight City promotions were female.

London executive partner Oliver Brettle told Legal Week: "There's an obvious dip compared to last year – this year is an outlier given the trajectory overall and the pipeline for next year and beyond."

The other five new partners in London are James Greene (capital markets), James Hardy  (banking), Tim Hickman (intellectual property), Steven Worthington (M&A) and James Johnson  (M&A). Both Greene and Johnson trained at the firm.

Sixteen (52%) of this year's promotions are in the US, including nine in New York, with a further four in continental and eastern Europe, one in South Africa, and three in the Middle East.

In an interview with Legal Week in 2015, chairman Hugh Verrier said White & Case was planning to boost lawyer count in the City and New York to more than 500 by 2020.

Brettle said: "Two thirds of this year's promotions are in New York and London, which have been singled out by the firm in its strategy."

The firm's M&A practice has received the most new partners with eight, followed by banking with five. The promotions take effect from 1 January 2018.

White & Case partner promotions in full

London Kamilla Azamat – finance James Greene – finance James Hardy – banking Tim Hickman – intellectual property James Johnson – M&A Rebecca Shorter – international arbitration Steven Worthington – M&A

Johannesburg Quintin du Plessis – banking

Bratislava Juraj Fuska – M&A

Hamburg Matthias Kiesewetter – M&A

Abu Dhabi Alexander Malahias – finance

Dubai Ali Shaikley – M&A Claire Matheson Kirton – banking

Stockholm Johan Thiman – capital markets Henrik Wireklint – M&A

Miami Maria Beguiristain – white collar

Washington DC Jay Campbell – trade Matthew Drossos – international arbitration Frank Hogue – antitrust Francisco Jijon – international arbitration

New York Robert Counihan – intellectual property Ross Elfand – antitrust James Fogarty – capital markets Rebecca Gottlieb – banking Ash Ilkhani – capital markets Ryan Johnson – intellectual property Luke Laumann – M&A Francis Lupinacci – M&A David Suggs – antitrust

Los Angeles Jonathan Hawk – commercial litigation Robert Morrison – banking