Linklaters announces 37 new counsel have been promoted across 12 jurisdictions and 11 practice areas, nearly half are women.

Gender diversity

Of the total elected, 18 (49 per cent) of the new counsel promotions are women, and 19 are male (51 per cent). Linklaters says the firm has hit 20 per cent female partnership, and for the sixth year in a row Linklaters has increased the size of its promotion round. Charlie Jacobs, senior partner and chairman of Linklaters, said ‘our new counsel promotions demonstrate the growing number of highly skilled senior lawyers that we have in our offices across the globe. Counsel status recognises the strong technical capabilities of these senior lawyers and the additional leadership skills they bring to our client teams. I am pleased to see that the gender split in our new counsel election is almost 50 per cent female, emphasising the value we place on our commitment to gender diversity.’

Promotion data

Majority, 26 in all, of the new counsel promotions are outside of London, which the firm says highlights Linklaters' continued global growth and ambition. Of the 26 outside of London, new female counsel are elected in 9 different offices across the globe.  The spread of practices are mainstream corporate (10), capital markets (7), competition (4), banking (3), employment (3), tax (3), financial regulation (2), IP/TMT (2), dispute resolution (1), Pensions (1), and, real estate (1). The regional breakdown comprises UK (11), rest of Europe (10), Asia (10), Americas (5), and, Middle East (1). The new promotions take effect on 1st May 2019.