Shearman & Sterling has promoted one of its London lawyers to the partnership as part of its latest promotion round – the lowest turnout for London since 2016.

Meanwhile, the firm has promoted two in Paris, in a turnaround for the city that has in recent years seen no promotions.

Nick Withers, a member of the firm's M&A practice in London, is one of eight promotions globally, which will take effect on January 1 next year.

Withers has been an associate at the firm since 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile, and has previously worked in the same capacity at O'Melveny & Myers and Slaughter and May.

Of the new partners, three are U.S.-based: Ryan Bray from Houston, Michael Mitchell from Washington D.C. and Jennifer Morton from New York.

A further two new partners are based in Paris – Lachlan Poustie and Benjamin Siino – while two others, Roberta Cherman and James Clayton-Payne, hail from São Paulo and Singapore respectively.

Last year, the firm made up eight new partners, including two London partners, while the year before that it made up a total of 16.

Shearman is not alone in reducing its London partner promotion count. So far this year, other firms such as Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and White & Case have also made up reduced numbers in the U.K.