Allen & Overy (A&O) has promoted 36 lawyers to partner of whom 42% are women representing a rise from last year's partnership round when 36% of the 39 promoted were women.

The firm’s banking practice saw the most new partners at 12, followed by corporate at 11, six in litigation, four in international capital markets and three in tax. Effective from 1 May, partners have specialisms in tech, life science, private capital and environmental, social and governance (ESG).

There was a wide geographical spread, with 13 offices represented across the magic circle law firm’s global network. The London office got the most partners with 11, these included three of the four international capital markets partners: James Smallwood, Andrew Enga, Tanya O’Hagan, the fourth, Hilary Seo is based in New York. New York had the next most appointments, with four new partners. As well as Seo, also joining the partnership are Caroline Lapidus in tax, Grace Wang in IP litigation and Ally de Padua in banking. 

Paris and Sydney drew at three partner each. Of those based in the French capital, Arthur Sauzay is in corporate, Amine Bourabiat is in banking and Charles Tuffreau is in IP litigation. Two of the new corporate partners are based in Sydney: Lisa Emanuel and Daniel Harris and William Kim is in banking.

A&O’s global managing partner Gareth Price said: “Congratulations to all of our new partners. The group reflects a very diverse range of talent. I’m also pleased to see a strong geographical spread and a breadth of practice and product specialisms, reflecting the quality and global reach of our new partners. Each member of the cohort brings different expertise and a wealth of experience in providing exceptional service to our clients.”

Of the six in litigation, three are IP litigators: Tuffreaui in Paris, Denise Benz in Munich and Wang in New York.

Global head of IP, David Stone said: "These promotions complement our lateral hires and reflect our commitment to investing in the areas of technology and life sciences, where we see significant opportunities to advise our clients on complex and high-stakes patent litigation matters.

“Each of our new partners brings a wealth of experience, expertise and client focus to our practice. I congratulate Charles, Denise and Grace on their well-deserved promotions."

These promotions follow on from A&O's growth in tech and life sciences capabilities over the last two years, which saw the hires of tech patent litigator Lisa Nguyen and a five-strong life sciences litigation team consisting of Elizabeth Holland, Bill James, John Bennett, Nick Mitrokostas and Daniel Margolis in February 2022.

In 2021, A&O grew its presence on the West Coast with two new offices in San Francisco and Silicon Valley and hired a tech-focused team from White & Case including Adam Chernichaw, Alex Touma, Bijal Vakil, Daren Orzechowski, David Tennant, Eric Lancaster, Noah Brumfield and Shamita Etienne-Cummings; Sapna Palla was previously at full service law firm Wiggin and Dana.

The firm also strengthened its offering in key market Germany through the hire of patent expert Stephan Neuhaus, also in 2021.

The full list of new partners is:

• Miklos Kadar, Banking, Budapest
• Pietro Bellone, Banking, Italy
• Nick Hallam, Banking, London
• Mitchell Ikoghode, Banking, London
• Alice Smith, Banking, London
• Andreas Hommel, Banking, Luxembourg
• Miao Wang, Banking, Luxembourg
• Amine Bourabiat, Banking, Paris
• Rishi Hindocha, Banking, Singapore
• William Kim, Banking, Sydney
• Hitomi Komachi, Banking, Tokyo
• Ally de Padua, Banking, New York
• Olivier Valk, Corporate, Amsterdam
• Pieter Huizing, Corporate, Amsterdam
• Francesca Miotto, Corporate, Brussels
• Eimear Coady, Corporate, London
• Chris Sabine, Corporate, London
• Oliver Bacon, Corporate, London
• Matthew Hamilton-Foyn, Corporate, London
• Arthur Sauzay, Corporate, Paris
• Tom Jokelson, Corporate, Singapore
• Lisa Emanuel, Corporate, Sydney
• Daniel Harris, Corporate, Sydney
• James Smallwood, ICM, London
• Andrew Enga, ICM, London
• Tanya O’Hagan, ICM, London
• Hilary Seo, ICM, New York
• Thomas Declerck, Litigation, Brussels
• Denise Benz, Litigation, Munich
• Callum O’Connor, Litigation, Johannesburg
• Russell Butland, Litigation, London
• Charles Tuffreau, Litigation, Paris
• Grace Wang, Litigation, New York
• Isabelle Panis, Tax, Brussels
• Esther Lemmon, Tax, London
• Caroline Lapidus, Tax, New York