Global law firm honors 54 attorneys by including them in their 2022 partner selection
In a positive step towards gender diversity, several global law firms have announced partner and director promotions in various practice areas and locations. While exact statistics on the representation of women in these promotions are not widely available, the overall trend indicates incremental progress.
Fiona Henderson, Veit Sahlfeld, Dimitri Millas, and Geraldine Young were promoted to the litigation and disputes practice area in New York, Hamburg, Houston, and Dallas, respectively. Meanwhile, Zayba Drabu, Victoria Corder, and James Lockwood were promoted to the same practice area in London, New York, and London again. Helen Fairhead was promoted to the antitrust and competition practice area in London, and Rebecca Abou-Chedid was promoted to the projects practice area in Washington, D.C.
In addition, Nathan Baum, Justin Coddington, and Darren Smith were promoted to the litigation and disputes, tax, and intellectual property practice areas in Dallas, Houston, and Houston, respectively. Anna Rudawski was promoted to the information governance, privacy, and cybersecurity practice area in New York, and Daniel Ng was promoted to the litigation and disputes practice area in Hong Kong.
Marianne McMahon was promoted to the general counsel position in London, and Jared Kaplan was promoted to the corporate, M&A, and securities practice area in New York. Notably, 23 of the 54 promoted lawyers are women, representing 43% of the total.
Global law firm XYZ, which announced 54 lawyer promotions to partner and director positions, effective January 1, 2022, in various locations worldwide, has made a significant effort to promote gender diversity. Among the promoted lawyers are Annabelle Wheeler, Laura Kiwelu, and Rachel Chan, who were promoted to the litigation and disputes, projects, and corporate, M&A, and securities practice areas in Munich/London, London, and Hong Kong, respectively.
In Australia, Kate Green, Harriet Oldmeadow, and Nick Sinclair were promoted in the practice areas of litigation and disputes, and banking and finance. Similarly, Bernd Dreier was promoted to the corporate, M&A, and securities practice area in Munich. Alberta Yan was promoted to the same practice area in New York, and Matthew Buckle was promoted to the litigation and disputes practice area in London.
The promotion of women to senior positions in law firms continues to be a focus for many organizations. Despite women making up a majority of legal workforces in some regions, they are still underrepresented at senior and partner levels. Systemic barriers persist that hinder equitable promotion rates to partnership, requiring firms to adopt transparent promotion processes, flexible work policies, and active mentoring or sponsorship programs to improve gender equality.
Many firms and legal organizations have implemented pledges and targets to improve gender equality in senior roles, aiming for significant increases in women’s representation, including in partnership and leadership. For example, some global firms have set explicit goals, such as raising the proportion of women in senior management roles to at least 40% by 2025.
While detailed quantitative data on gender diversity in partner promotions at a global scale in 2022 may not be readily available, the initiatives and commitments indicate ongoing efforts to break systemic barriers hindering women’s advancement to partnership in law firms.
In summary, the trend towards gender diversity in law firm promotions continues, albeit slowly. While exact statistics on the representation of women in these promotions are not widely available, the overall trend indicates incremental progress reinforced by firm-level targets and public pledges to break systemic barriers hindering women’s advancement to partnership in law firms.
- The global law firm XYZ, in a notable effort to increase gender diversity, has promoted Annabelle Wheeler to the litigation and disputes practice area, which is a senior leadership position.
- As a part of the ongoing push for gender equality in the legal sector, some firms have set targets to raise the proportion of women in senior management roles, such as increasing it to at least 40% by 2025, a significant step towards ending systemic barriers hindering their advancement in business careers.
