Four solicitor-advocates from firms including Allen & Overy and White & Case are among 108 new QCs appointed in this year's silk round.

The private practice quartet to have made the grade include Mark Levy, global co-chair of A&O's international arbitration group, and two partners from White & Case – London arbitration co-head Aloke Ray and Dipen Sabharwal, who heads the US firm's EMEA disputes section for international arbitration.

Ray has a particular focus on disputes in the oil and gas, power, construction, financial services and telecoms sectors, and in 2010 relocated to Singapore to launch an international arbitration practice for White & Case. Sabharwal, meanwhile regularly advises international investors and Indian companies on India-related disputes.

Levy, who made partner at A&O in 2000, specialises in energy and natural resources disputes.

Stephen Fietta, founder of international law specialist Fietta, has also taken silk. Fietta, a former partner at Latham & Watkins, launched arbitration and international law boutique Volterra Fietta in 2011 before leaving to open his own firm, Fietta, in 2015.

This year's silk round includes 30 successful female applicants, equating to 28% of all new QCs. The number of women is slightly down on last year, when 32 made the grade.

There were 55 applications from women, up from 50 last year, but selection panel chair Sir Alex Allan said the panel was still concerned about the "comparatively low" number of female applicants.

This year, 13 black and ethnic minority applicants took silk, reversing an upward trend in recent years that has seen the number of ethnic minority QC appointments rise from just nine in 2015-16 to a record 18 last year.

This year's youngest successful applicant is 37 years old, with the oldest 60. The new QCs will formally become silks when they make their declaration before the Lord Chancellor at a ceremony on 11 March.