City titans Freshfields and A&O Shearman have unveiled their annual partner promotions - while remaining noticeably coy on any diversity considerations that may have been involved in the appointments.
Five of nine new UK partners at Freshfields work in dispute resolution and four in global transactions. Senior partner Georgia Dawson said: ‘This cohort deliver market-leading legal expertise for our global client base. They bring with them the insight, ambition and leadership that will help guide the firm and our teams into the future.’ Freshfields has elevated 25 to partner globally.
Earlier this month, amid Donald Trump’s assault on Big Law, it emerged that Freshfields had altered the heading on its main DEI website page from ‘diversity and inclusion’ to ‘culture and inclusion’. The firm did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
In 2023, announcing 30 new partners, Freshfields included representation statistics for gender and race/ethnicity. These data are absent from the 2024 press release on new partners, which remains on the firm’s website, and are absent again this year.
A&O Shearman has promoted 33 to the partnership. They include nine in the UK, spread across M&A (3) debt finance (3) asset finance (1) real estate (1) and markets innovation group (1). Khalid Garousha, senior partner, said: ’It is immensely gratifying to promote from within and recognise the hard work and dedication of our new partners. Their talent will be instrumental in helping us deliver innovative and high-quality solutions to the complex challenges our clients face.’
Ahead of Allen & Overy’s merger with Shearman & Sterling last year, Garousha was more forthcoming. He hailed the fact that 42% of new partners promoted in 2024 across both firms were women, ’in line with our goal of increasing diversity’. No mention is made of diversity in this year’s announcement.
In 2020 Allen & Overy announced a diversity push to ensure 15% of the partnership were from an ethnic minority by 2025. The firm also set a target of having at least a quarter of its lawyers and support staff recruited from diverse backgrounds by the same date, and committed to recruiting 35% of its trainees from ethnic minorities.
The Gazette has asked A&O Shearman whether the targets have been met, but has yet to receive a response.
At Clyde & Co, meanwhile, 10 of the 12 new UK partners announced in the latest annual round are women. The firm has promoted 25 to partner globally.
On diversity and inclusion policy, a Clyde spokesperson told the Gazette: ‘We’re transitioning to a “gap to parity” approach for our goals where legal and applicable. This shift will recalibrate our current gender goals and necessitate market and region-specific definitions of ethnicity parity. By focusing on closing these gaps, we aim to create a more nuanced and impactful strategy that addresses the unique DEI challenges in each of our markets.’
Clyde’s ‘aspirations’ for 2030, ‘where legally permissible’, include: a 30% reduction in overall representation gap to ethnicity parity, ‘in certain jurisdictions where relevant and lawful, reflecting the diverse talent pools in the locations we operate in’; and a ‘50% reduction in the representation gap to gender parity at all levels, including key decision-making bodies like the Global and Regional Management Boards’.
Clyde said this policy transition began last Summer, before Trump’s election.
All the new appointments take effect on 1 May.
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