Magic circle firms have continued to address gender imbalance in their annual promotion rounds. However, the figures show Allen & Overy lagging, with only two women making the cut out of a total of 20 promotions to partnership. The 10% ratio falls far short of the firm’s target of ensuring women make up 30% of partnership promotions by 2020.

In its gender pay gap report, published last month, A&O said that ‘like many organisations’ it had ‘not succeeded in retaining and promoting enough of our best women’. Currently, 20% of the firm’s partners in London and 18% globally are women.

Clifford Chance has promoted 26 lawyers to partner of whom 10 are women (38%). This is an improvement on last year, when four women  were among 24 new partners. Seven of the promotions are in London.

Linklaters, which last month promoted 10 women among 27 lawyers (37%), has also promoted 30 lawyers to counsel. Of the latter, 14 (47%) are women.

The figures for Silk Street-based Linklaters, which in 2014 pledged that at least 30% of new partners would be women, show the firm has beaten the target this year.

Also this month, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer promoted 12 lawyers to its partnership, including five in London, with women making up 25% of the cohort. Slaughter and May promoted four lawyers, including three women.

All the promotions are effective from 1 May.