Ashurst – Credit: Shutterstock/A G Baxter

Ashurst has promoted 21 lawyers to partner around the world in its latest promotions round, with women representing more than half of the group for the second year running.

This year's round sees 11 women make partner – 52 percent of the latest cohort – meaning that a quarter of the firm's partnership will be female, according to a statement from the firm.

The firm has also reaffirmed its goal to achieve a 33 percent female partnership by 2022.

The round is slightly smaller than last year, when 24 lawyers were made up globally including 14 women, bucking a trend that has seen bumper promotion rounds among the U.K. top 50 this year.

The majority of this year's promotions are concentrated in Australia and the U.K., with nine and eight partners being made up in each region respectively.

In London, corporate lawyers Braeden Donnelly, Gaby Jones and Aaron Shute, global markets lawyer Tim Edmonds, tax lawyer Tim Gummer, projects lawyer Nicholas Hilder, disputes lawyer Emma Johnson, and competition lawyer Steven Vaz are being made up to partner, with all global promotions coming into effect on May 1, 2019.

Each of the firm's offices in Germany, France, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates will see one partner made up.

Global managing partner Paul Jenkins commented in a statement: "The firm is delivering an impressive level of performance and this has enabled us to make a good number of promotions across our offices and practices. And with 2019 marking 100 years since women's entry into the legal profession in the U.K., this is also the first time in Ashurst's history that the total number of female partners globally will now exceed 100.

"From May 1, 25% of our partners will be female, as we continue to work toward our financial-year 2022 target of 33% of the global partnership being female. I am confident that all our new partners will play an invaluable role in the future growth and leadership of our business."

Ashurst partner promotions 2019

• Anita Choi – corporate, Sydney
• James Clarke – dispute resolution, Melbourne
• Gerrit Clasen – corporate, Frankfurt
• Rebecca Cope – digital economy, Sydney
• Yvonne Cross – projects, Dubai
• Jacques Dabreteau – projects, Paris
• Madeleine de Garis – global loans, Melbourne
• Braeden Donnelly – corporate, London
• Tim Edmonds – global markets, London
• Melissa Fraser – competition, Sydney
• Tim Gummer – tax, London
• Nicholas Hilder – projects, London
• Emma Johnson (née Martin) – dispute resolution, London
• Gaby Jones – corporate, London
• Caroline Lindsey – projects, Perth
• Dean Moroz – investment funds, Hong Kong
• Aaron Shute – corporate, London
• Elissa Speight – employment, Canberra
• Julia Sutherland – employment, Perth
• Lynda Tully – corporate, Melbourne
• Steven Vaz – competition, London