Specialist disputes firm Hausfeld has promoted four partners – two on each side of the Atlantic – as it targets competition and financial services group action work.
 
Sarah LaFreniere and Samantha Stein are made up in Washington DC and San Francisco respectively while Simon Bishop and Tim Brown have been promoted in the London office. The tally doubles last year’s count of two promotions, which were both in London.
 
The firm has also promoted three lawyers to counsel and appointed seven senior associates. Half the partner promotions are female, with women making up 43% of overall promotions.
 
Some 36% of the firm’s partnership are female, as are more than 40% of its lawyers, including the firm’s new UK and US office managing partners, Lianne Craig and Melinda Coolidge. 
 
Financial services litigator Bishop makes partner after five years at the firm and specialises in a field Hausfeld sees as ripe for expansion: it is currently pursuing group claims against a number of banks, including RBS and Barclays, as part of a foreign exchange rigging lawsuit.
 
London-based colleague Brown is a competition litigator specialising in cartel claims, including the Automotive Spare Parts cartel litigation. The employed barrister joined Hausfeld in 2019 after stints at Quinn Emanuel, Stewarts, and a decade spent at the Bar.

In Washington DC, fellow competition litigator LaFreniere is recognised for her work on the US side of the FX antitrust litigation where she has helped recover more than $2.3bn for her clients, having spent her career at the firm since qualifying. 
 
Californian attorney Stein, meanwhile, was also promoted for her work representing small businesses and consumers in several major class actions, many with antitrust aspects. Stein, like LaFreniere, has spent her career at Hausfeld, with short stints at the US Federal Trade Commission and as a federal judicial clerk. 
 
The partner promotions bring the US partner group to 26 and the London partnership to 20 partners.
 
Global co-chair Anthony Maton said the promotions reflected “the market’s recognition for our work and leadership in our core practices across all our jurisdictions”.
 
The two lawyers promoted to partner last year were London-based Lucy Rigby and Luke Streatfeild, while there was one lateral partner hire, that of litigator Ned Beale, who joined in London from Trowers & Hamlins.
 
The new counsel, meanwhile, are Düsseldorf-based antitrust lawyer Manuel Knebelsberger and two London-based lawyers: Amandine Gueret and Duran Ross. 
 
Gueret, a dual-qualified lawyer in France and England, advises European clients on international competition disputes, including the Truck Cartel litigation, while Ross is a key member of the commercial disputes team in London.