Clifford Chance (CC) has announced the promotion of 26 partners across its network, down from 30 in 2019, with the proportion of women edging up from 33% to 35%.

Nine women were promoted across the firm’s network, boosting the proportion of female partners at the magic circle firm to 21%, up from just 15% in 2010.

The gender balance for this cohort puts it behind magic circle rival Allen & Overy (45%), but ahead of Linklaters (27%) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (19%).

In regional terms, there were five promotions in New York, up from three US partner appointments last year. Stepping up are: Alistair Dunlop (capital markets), Analisa Dillingham (corporate), John Friel (litigation and dispute resolution), Jeanne Roig-Irwin (real estate) and Paul Koppel (tax, pensions & employment).

Although the Asia Pacific tally of five was down from nine in 2019, the firm said the ‘strong representation’ of new partners across the Americas and Asia Pacific regions reflected its ‘strong growth and investment’ in these regions with revenue growing by 45% and 50% over the past five years respectively.

In the Asia Pacific region, there were two promotions in Singapore (Tom Lin and Daryl Liu, both corporate), and one each in Hong Kong (Viola Lui, corporate), Sydney (Chad Bochan, finance) and Perth (Mark Gillgren, finance).

Menwhile, there were nine promotions in London and one in the Middle East — Dubai-based corporate specialist Deniz Tas. In both regions the tally was identical to last year.

Continental Europe saw a 25% fall in promotions, from eight to six: with two promotions in Paris and one apiece in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich and Madrid.

The announcements come the day after Ashurst put its partner promotions on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but CC global managing partner Matthew Layton said pressing ahead with the promotions was the right decision.

"It is precisely now, when so many organisations face fundamental challenges as a result of COVID-19, that our continued commitment to investing in people and our leading global capabilities remains as resolute and important as ever,” he said. “Having the right people, with the right skills, and the right culture at the heart of our partnership puts us in the right place to support our clients when they need us most and is at the very core of the long-term success of the firm."

When it comes to practice areas, there was a jump in real estate promotions from one in 2019 to four this year; the strongest practice areas for new partners was corporate (seven, down from nine last year), followed by finance, down from seven to six.

Litigation and dispute resolution saw the third-highest number of promotions, down from eight in 2019 to five this year.