Latham & Watkins has promoted 19 counsel to its partnership, marking a step down on last year’s 23-strong cohort. 

The latest round follows the Los Angeles giant, the second largest law firm in the world by revenue, promoting 34 associates to partner in January – again a step down on last year’s record-tying 44-strong group.  

Seven women were included in the latest round, or 37% of the total – an increase on last year when six of the 23 counsel to make the cut were women (26%). The firm’s partner gender split is currently 26% female and 74% male, while 42% of all attorneys are women, according to data supplied by Pirical. 

As in previous years most of the promotions went to lawyers based in the firm’s US offices. Washington DC gained the most new partners, with five, while three were promoted in New York and one apiece in Orange County, Boston, San Diego and Los Angeles.  

Across the firm’s international network Hamburg welcomed two new partners and Frankfurt and Paris one apiece. London, which saw six associates promoted in the January round, also saw counsel Clare Scott move up in the investment funds team. 

The final two promotions went to Marc Makary and Derek McKinley in the project development and finance practice in Riyadh, where the firm announced last week it was establishing its MENA headquarters. Last year Latham also became one of the first international law firms to be granted a licence to practise in Saudi Arabia following amendments to its code of law practice that meant foreign firms could no longer operate there through as association with a local firm.  

In terms of practice area, the antitrust and competition and complex commercial litigation practices saw three promotions each, while IP litigation, project development and finance, and M&A and private equity had two apiece.  

Latham’s M&A practice had a standout 2023, working on more than 600 deals worth $385bn to place second on LSEG’s global M&A legal advisor rankings behind Kirkland & Ellis, which worked on deals worth just shy of $400bn. Noteworthy deals included advising Tapestry on its $8.5bn acquisition of luxury fashion business Capri Holdings and UK life sciences business Abcam on its $5.7bn acquisition by Danaher.  

The seven remaining promotions were spread across environment and resources, restructuring and special situations, public company representation, capital markets, white collar defence and investigations, securities litigation and investment funds.  

Rich Trobman, chair and managing partner, said: “I am tremendously proud of our newest partners, whose legal skills, commitment to client service, and dedication to teamwork epitomise what it means to be a Latham partner. Their collective experience and industry knowledge add depth to our market-leading practice and global platform. We’re excited about their continued success and the contributions they will bring to our firm and our clients.” 

The promotions are effective 1 March.

The full list of new partners

Joshua Bledsoe (Orange County), Environment Land & Resources Practice; Corporate Department

Rachel Blitzer (New York), Intellectual Property Litigation Practice; Litigation & Trial Department

Jason Burt (Washington, DC), Complex Commercial Litigation Practice; Litigation & Trial Department

Jana Dammann de Chapto (Hamburg), Antitrust & Competition Practice; Litigation & Trial Department

Thomas Doyen (Paris), Restructuring & Special Situations Practice; Finance Department

Patrick English (Washington DC), Antitrust & Competition Practice; Litigation & Trial Department

William Hackett (Washington DC.), Public Company Representation Practice; Corporate Department

Marc Makary (Riyadh), Project Development & Finance Practice; Finance Department

Christina Mann (Frankfurt), Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice; Corporate Department

Betsy Marks (Boston), Complex Commercial Litigation Practice; Litigation & Trial Department

Derek McKinley (Riyadh), Project Development & Finance Practice, Finance Department

Elizabeth More (Washington DC) Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice; Corporate Department

Gail Neely (New York), Capital Markets Practice; Corporate Department

Jason Ohta (San Diego), White Collar Defence & Investigations Practice; Litigation & Trial Department

Stefan Patzer (Hamburg), Complex Commercial Litigation Practice; Litigation & Trial Department

Zachary Rowen (New York), Securities Litigation & Professional Liability Practice; Litigation & Trial Department

Clare Scott (London), Investment Funds Practice; Corporate Department

Peter Todaro (Washington, D.C.), Antitrust & Competition Practice; Litigation & Trial Department

Thomas Yeh (Los Angeles), Intellectual Property Litigation Practice; Litigation & Trial Department