Latham & Watkins has favoured its continental European network in its 2020 partner promotion round, promoting seven associates on the mainland, up from just two last year.

There is a corresponding dip in the number of London promotions – from five in 2019 to three this year – while the US contingent was down from 26 to 23. The tally of 33 partners being made up by the Los Angeles-based giant is the same as last year: they take up their new posts on 1 January 2021.

Four of the favoured mainland European associates are corporate specialists: David Rath (Frankfurt), Giorgia Lugli (Milan), Vladimir Mikhailovsky (Moscow) and Roberto L. Reyes Gaskin (Paris). Two litigators on the continent also made the grade – John Wileur  (Brussels), Jan Christoph Höft (Düsseldorf) – while Milan-based finance lawyer Alessia De Coppi is also being promoted.

Meanwhile, in London, corporate lawyers Douglas Abernethy and Anna Ngo are being made up alongside Fergus O’Domhnaill, a leveraged finance and restructuring specialist.

They will join notable London 2020 lateral partner hires: M&A partner Sam Newhouse, who joined from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in the spring; and debt capital markets specialist Manoj Tulsiani, who joined from Linklaters last month.

The Washington DC office saw the largest number of partner promotions, with five partners being made up, four of whom – Joseph M. Bargnesi , Stephen P. Barry, Lindsey S. Champlin and Drew R. Wisniewski – are members of the litigation and trial department.

The next most favoured US offices were San Francisco (four), and New York, Chicago and Los Angeles (three apiece) followed by Silicon Valley (two) and Boston, Century City and Houston, which will all welcome one of their contingent to the partnership.

As was the case last year, there were no promotions in the Middle East or Asia. Nine of the Latham associates joining the partnership are women, representing 27% of the cohort, down from 11 last year (33%). 

In terms of practice areas, 20 of the new partners are corporate specialists, nine hail from the litigation and trial lawyer department and four are finance lawyers.

Earlier this month German independent Noerr secured a four-partner team of corporate lawyers, led by Rainer Wilke, from Latham’s Düsseldorf office.

Click here for the full list of new partners.