Shearman & Sterling has promoted three partners apiece in Italy and the United Arab Emirates with its international network accounting for nine out of 14 promotions.

After a six-month delay to its annual promotions round, the New York firm has doubled the cohort from 2020, when seven partners were made up.

Milan (three), London (two) and Dubai (two) account for the largest number of promotions outside the firm’s New York base, where five partners are being made up from 1 July. There are also international promotions in Abu Dhabi and Tokyo.

The promotions continue a busy year for Shearman in Europe – it has made four lateral hires in London and hired two partners from Linklaters to open in Munich, but also seen an eight-partner arbitration team depart to establish a Paris-based boutique.

The successful Milan candidates are Alessandro Salvador (litigation), Emanuele Trucco (capital markets and M&A), and Andrea De Pieri (corporate), Italy having missed out on promotions in last year’s round.

The two partners being promoted in London are Gordon Houseman (finance) and Jonathan Swil (litigation). They join four London partners laterally hired this year, including leveraged finance specialist Sanjeev Dhuna, who joined from Allen & Overy in April, and Travers Smith’s London M&A head Phil Cheveley, who joined in March to lead its EMEA M&A team. 

The Middle East trio being made up are Dubai-based M&A partner Jade Chu and project development and finance specialists Brendan Hundt (Dubai) and Laleh Shahabi (Abu Dhabi).

Capital markets partner Kana Morimura is being made up in Tokyo, the first promotion in Japan since 2018. 

Five lawyers, meanwhile, made the cut in the firm’s New York headquarters: M&A duo Lara Aryani and Grace Jamgochian, as well as tax lawyer Derek Kershaw, litigation specialist Katherine J. Stoller and financial restructuring and insolvency expert Sara Coelho. 

Notably, there are no promotions across the remainder of the firm's Americas network of offices in the Bay Area, Washington DC, Austin, Dallas, Houston and Toronto.

In terms of practice areas, M&A was the most popular discipline accounting for four of the 14 promotions, followed by an equal number of appointments in project development and finance, litigation, and capital markets, which gained two apiece. 

Six of the lawyers joining the partnership are women, compared to just two in last year’s slimmed-down round. 

David Beveridge, Shearman’s senior partner, said: “I am proud to announce the promotion of these exceptional lawyers. This is recognition of their skill, agility and determination to best serve the needs of our clients and the firm. 

“It is also part of the continued execution of our strategy to expand our core practices with the greatest potential for the firm, aligning with market opportunities."

The expanded promotion round and international investment comes off the back of a challenging 2020 for Shearman, which saw revenue decline by 11% to $861m against a 22.9% decline in profit per partner to $1.897m, according to Law.com.