Slaughter and May has made up five lawyers to partner in a promotion round in line with the ‘ambitious’ set of diversity targets it published for the first time three years ago.

Two of the five lawyers in the latest cohort are women, hitting Slaughters’ goal for at least 40% of equity partner promotions globally to be women in the 10 years to 2027.  

The cohort is somewhat smaller than last year’s 10-strong round, which also achieved the 40% women target and marked a return to form after 2021, when only one of the eight to make partner was a woman.  

Leading law firms – including Slaughters – have been scrambling to improve their diversity records in recent years through the publication of targets, the launch of new initiatives and by appointing more women to top positions.

The latest promotions bring Slaughters’ partner headcount to 106 – six fewer than at the same time last year – 96 of whom will be based in London and the rest across the firm’s offices in Brussels, Beijing and Hong Kong. Twenty-nine per cent of the partnership will be women.

Alongside the gender target is a commitment that between May 2020 and April 2025, a minimum of 15% of equity partner promotions in London and Brussels will be from ethnic minority backgrounds. Slaughters has significantly bettered that, saying that from 2020 to 2024 it managed to achieve 27%. 

Unlike last year’s round that only included lawyers based in Slaughters’ London headquarters, this round included one international promotion – which went to competition lawyer Alexander Chadd in Brussels.  

The competition team also welcomed a new partner in London – Tina Zhuo, who has worked with clients including Google and Tata Steel. She is also part of the Slaughters team acting for Mondi on its proposed £5bn offer to buy smaller FTSE 100 rival DS Smith.  

Also being promoted in London are Ross Francis-Pike in the disputes and investigations team, insurance sector specialist Tom Peacock in the financial institutions team and private equity lawyer Aleezeh Liaqat.

Steve Cooke, Slaughter and May senior partner, commented: “I am very pleased to announce the election of five new partners. Each will make a valued contribution to their respective practice area and to the continued success of the firm.”

The promotions are effective 1 May 2024 and coincide with M&A practice head Roland Turnill succeeding Cooke as senior partner. The leadership change, announced back in 2021 in a surprise move, formed part of a wider shakeup in the structure of the firm’s executive function that also saw Deborah Finkler elected as its first managing partner and Jill Hoseason hired from Freshfields as its first chief operating officer.