McDermott Will & Emery has made up 46 lawyers to partner in its latest promotions round, which also saw eight lawyers become counsel. 

The class represents a 26% increase on the 2022 cohort, when 32 lawyers made partner and 11 became counsel, and also sees the proportion of women increase from 47% last year to 61%. 

Last year the firm reported that 37% of the cohort identified as racially, ethnically and/or LGBTQ+ but declined to disclose the figure this time round. 

Like last year, the firm’s transactions team saw the most promotions, with 25. Next up was litigation, which saw seven, while regulatory and tax had six apiece and healthcare five. Employment and IP each had two, with the promotions rounded out with private client lawyer Bridget Devoy in Los Angeles. 

As with last year, most of the promotions went to lawyers in the US; last year New York and the firm’s Chicago headquarters shared top billing but this time the firm’s New York office saw 14 lawyers made up, including four in its litigation team, while Chicago saw six. 

The New York promotions follow the firm bolstering its litigation practice in the city in the summer when it hired former EY general counsel Ron Hauben to co-head its accounting defence practice. 

Meantime, Washington DC had four promotions – all of which went to lawyers in the firm’s regulatory practice – while Dallas had three. The rest of the US promotions were split between Miami, Orange County, Boston, Wilmington and Atlanta. 

Looking to Europe, there were five promotions in the firm’s London office, which grew revenue 33% in 2022 to almost $70m according to data from The American Lawyer. Raminta Dereskeviciute, Elisabeth Moseley and Priya Taneja made partner in the regulatory, energy and transactions practices while the white-collar and transactions groups welcomed a new counsel each. 

A notable recent partner lateral for McDermott in London is Peter Lu, who joined from Baker McKenzie in April for the new role of global head of its China practice as the firm moved to grow its share of outbound Chinese investment work in Europe.

Elsewhere in Europe, four lawyers were promoted in Paris, including transactions lawyer Houda Bourrich, who joined the firm late last year from Dentons as part of a four-strong private equity team led by partner Guillaume Panuel. Earlier this year the firm also hired partner Nicolette Kost De Sèvres in Paris from Mayer Brown to co-head its global investigations and compliance group.

There were seven promotions across Munich, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt, including four in the transactions team, which has also been bolstered in Germany over the past year with partner hires from Reed Smith, Noerr and Latham & Watkins. 

The final two promotions were in Milan, where Alessio Persani made partner in the tax team and corporate compliance specialist Paola Perin was welcomed as counsel in the transactions practice. 

“We’re incredibly proud of this group and extend our congratulations in recognising their accomplishments,” said McDermott partner and chairman Ira Coleman. “The advancement of these talented individuals from across our offices and practices underscores our diverse global footprint. We look forward to their continuing success and the contributions they’ll make to the clients of McDermott.”

McDermott grew revenue 9% in 2022 to $1.82bn, placing it 21st on the Am Law 200 ranking. A 4.6% decline in its equity partnership to 206 lawyers contributed to average profits per equity partner growing 9.2% to hit a record high of $3.32m according to data from The American Lawyer. 

The promotions are effective 1 January, 2024.