Kennedys has announced that 17 partners will join its partnership, of whom nine are women, bringing the total number of partners worldwide to 349 from May.

It is the third year running that the majority of newly made-up partners are women, although the total number of promotions has dipped from 20 in 2023 and a record high of 22 in the previous year. 

The smaller cohort is in line with the announcements made by many of its rivals in the UK top 50.

According to data supplied by Pirical, 35% of the firm’s partners are women, meaning it has already hit its target for that proportion to be achieved by 2025. The firm has set itself a further target for 40% of the partnership to be female by 2030. 

The class of 2024 spans the firm’s global network of offices, with five in London, three in Dubai, two in Sydney and Chicago, and the remainder in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, New York and San Francisco in the US as well as Hong Kong and its recently opened office in Manchester in the UK. 

Senior partner Nick Thomas said: “The firm’s success is down to the exceptional talent of our people. We are committed to developing our people and rewarding their contribution to our success. We pride ourselves on having clear routes to success and work hard to invest in our people, so it is incredibly rewarding to welcome this year’s cohort into the partnership.”

The partnership promotions come against a busy period of lateral hiring for the firm, which said it had hired 18 partners in the past 12 months, having recorded a significant milestone last year when revenue topped £300m for the first time.

Pirical calculates that the partnership at the firm, which has 42 offices in 21 countries, has grown by 8% over the last 12 months and 20% over the past three years.

Kennedys has been notably active in Australia, where last December it welcomed Lucinda Lyons, Clyde & Co’s former Australian managing partner, as part of a 13-lawyer move. Clydes insurance partners Nicole Wearne, Ganga Narayanan and Mark Attard are also set to move over in Melbourne. 

Meantime in the UK Kennedys hired Judith Martin, the head of Clydes' diseases team, in Manchester earlier this week, while last July it secured a nine-strong team from defendant insurance firm Plexus Law in London.

The firm has also opened new offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Newcastle in the UK. 

Recent partner departures include those of employment specialists Persephone Stuckey-Clarke and Justin Claude, who joined Dentons in Sydney in March, along with a nine-strong team, including two special counsels and two senior associates. 

And earlier this month, Australian firm Wotton + Kearney opened an office in Singapore after hiring Kennedys partners Ben Nicholson and Tom Morrison, while Clyde & Co pushed back on recent exits with the hire of Thomas Maroney as a partner in New York, a year after he joined from Lewis Brisbois.  

The full list of promoted partners

Asia Pacific    
Bertha Ng, Hong Kong
Nathan Buck, Sydney
Con Kakakios, Sydney

EMEA    
Reem Bangina, Dubai
Mehdi Seadon, Dubai
Rishi Sengupta, Dubai

North America    
Ryan McInerney, Basking Ridge
Nate French, Chicago
Colin Willmott, Chicago
Hilary Simon, New York
Shain Wasser, San Francisco

UK    
Elisa Peachey, London
Laura Madders, London
Philip Kusiak, London
Rebecca Maby, London
Vicki Teasdale, London
Lauren Gosnell, Manchester