White & Case

White & Case has made up the fewest lawyers in its London office to partner in a decade, a year after it promoted a record-breaking amount in the city.

The latest promotions round see just three London lawyers make partner, which marks a significant decline on last year's round in the base.

The three lawyers promoted in London are M&A lawyer Charbel Abou Charaf, disputes lawyer Jonathan Brierley, and white-collar lawyer Anneka Randhawa. The promotions come into effect on January 1, 2020.

However, the global round was the U.S. firm's largest ever with 45 promotions, and is one of the most diverse on record for the firm.

Elsewhere, the firm made up one or two lawyers apiece in Mexico, Sweden, Belgium, France, Czech Republic, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.

The firm has made up at least five partners each year in London since 2010. In 2009, amid the financial crisis, the firm promoted just two lawyers in the city.

White & Case London executive partner Melissa Butler told Legal Week: "This year is an outlier compared to previous years. The low number comes on the back of several years of strong growth.

"This is a reflection of the desire to consolidate our newly promoted and laterals, and ensure that we're making all the right investments in them as well."

Partner Oliver Brettle, who sits on the firm's global executive committee, added: "We have in place a group of partners who are focused on further growth in London and we are dedicated to further investment in London, both internally and laterally.

"In terms of laterals, we have made extremely substantial investments over the last few years, and in the recent past our focus has been on consolidating what we've already done, because the growth strategy has never been one of hiring for hiring's sake, it's always been very careful on making sure we are focused on investing in the right people at the right time."

Germany saw the second largest amount of lawyers made up with nine promotions, behind promotions in the U.S. which numbered 16.

Brettle said: "We are seeing a strong performance in Germany and we feel that now is an appropriate moment to invest in our Germany practice and the partners there."

Of the global cohort, 17 of the new partners are women, representing 38% of the total.

The firm has promoted 30 London lawyers to partner since 2017, and has made 22 lateral partner additions during the same period.

A spokesperson for the firm said in a statement that partner headcount in London has grown from 80 at the start of 2015 to 122 at the start of 2019 – an increase of more than 50% during the four years.

The firm has prioritised profitable growth in its London and U.S. office as part of chairman Hugh Verrier's Plan 2020 strategy. This push has seen a number of lateral hires added to the office in recent years, including Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner contentious construction and engineering partner David Robertson, Cadwalader London litigation partner Steven Baker, and JP Morgan Chase executive director and assistant general counsel Julia Smithers Excell.

In a statement commenting on this year's partner promotions round, Verrier said: "This is the second year in a row that we have promoted the largest class in our history, reflecting our commitment to our 2020 strategy. Our new partners are all focused on delivering the client service and legal excellence necessary to help the firm grow and thrive in the years ahead."