Slaughter and May has promoted three women to its partnership, in a seven-strong round that includes the firm's first international promotions in five years.

The total number of promotions has dropped year on year after a bumper 2016, when the firm made up 10 new partners – its largest promotion round since 2000.

In contrast to 2016, however, when there was just one woman in the group, this year's promotion round is more gender balanced.

Five of the new partners are in London, with one apiece in the firm's Brussels and Hong Kong outposts – marking the first promotions in the firm's international offices since 2012. The firm also has an office in Beijing.

Senior partner Steve Cooke said: "We are really pleased to announce the election of seven new partners. Each of these talented individuals has already established a strong track record of providing excellent advice to our clients and will make an important contribution to the continuing growth of our business. The fact that we have promoted lawyers from a broad spread of practice areas reflects the underlying strength of our firm."

Partner promotions in full

London

IP/IT partner Duncan Blaikie

Corporate partner Christian Boney

Corporate partner Filippo de Falco

Financing partner Susan Hughes

Pensions and employment partner Phil Linnard

Brussels

Competition partner Kerry O'Connell

Hong Kong

Competition partner Natalie Yeung