The number of lawyers making partner at the magic circle has fallen to its lowest level since 2014, with this year's total down more than 10% on last year.

Across the five firms – Clifford Chance (CC), Slaughter and May, Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) – there were 88 new partners made up this year, down from 98 last year, marking the lowest overall total since 2014, when 83 were promoted.

However, despite the overall decrease, the proportion of women made up by the five firms has risen to a three-year high, with 27 female magic circle lawyers making the grade, equating to 31% of this year's partner class.

Last year just 19% of all new magic circle partners were female, while in 2016, 24% of promotions across the five firms were women.

This year's improved showing on gender diversity was principally driven by CC and Linklaters, both of which made up 10 women this year – significantly up on last year, when they promoted four and five women respectively.

However, the 20 female promotions at those two firms comprises almost three quarters of all new women partners at the magic circle this year, with A&O making up just two women for the second consecutive year, and Freshfields promoting three women out of 12.

A&O recently redoubled its efforts to boost gender diversity, announcing the launch of a new remote working hub office in Vauxhall as part of a push to make itself the 'go to' firm for women. It currently has an 18% female partnership and is aiming to increase this to 20% by 2020. Freshfields, meanwhile, has just 14% female partners and, while the firm states that it is "considering a number of mechanisms" to help it become more gender diverse, it does not have any specific targets.

CC and Linklaters were the only two of the elite five firms to make up more partners this year than last, with promotions falling 17% at A&O, 33% at Freshfields and 50% at Slaughters.

Looking at promotions by geography, the number of UK magic circle promotions fell by nearly 20% on last year, from 35 to 29, the lowest figure since since 2015. Continental European promotions dropped off even more heavily, falling by 35% to 24, marking a four-year low.

In contrast, there has been a marked increase in the number of new Asia-Pacific partners, with 23 made up this year. The figure has been steadily increasing in recent years and is now almost double 2015′s figure of 12.