Hogan Lovells has appointed 25 partners across its network with the proportion of US promotions jumping to more than 50% of the cohort, including nine in Washington DC.

The overall tally of partners is down from 29 last year, with US-based lawyers accounting for 14 of the appointments, one more than last year, representing 56% of the total.

Hard on the heels of the firm’s announcement in October of diversity and inclusion goals for US and UK racial and ethnic minority and LGBT+ partners, the firm has for the first time accompanied its partner announcement with data for these groups. Sixteen percent of the appointees are from a racial and ethnic minority and 5% are LGBT+; beating the respective targets for the US and UK partnership to achieve 15% and 4% representation respectively by 2025. 

Meanwhile, 44% per cent of the cohort are women, just shy of last year’s tally of 45%. The firm has set itself the target of 30% of its partners being women by 2022; as of October last year, the proportion of women stood at 26%.

CEO Miguel Zaldivar said: “Delivering on our commitments to diversity and inclusion is a strategic priority of the firm, so I am particularly pleased that 16 percent of our new partners are racial and ethnic minorities.”

In the UK, five London-based partners are being made up, down from eight in 2020, while mainland Europe has maintained last year’s tally of six promotions. There were no promotions in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Among the successful Europeans were Moscow-based Vironika Pilyugina, a trademark prosecution, litigation and dispute resolution specialist, and Paris-based privacy and cybersecurity expert Patrice Navarro. There were three promotions in Germany: litigator Carolin Marx, whose practice focuses on the automotive industry, and patent litigator Andreas Schmid, who are both based in Munich, and Düsseldorf-based tax specialist Mathias Schönhaus. 

The Continental European contingent is completed by Madrid-based Inmaculada Lorenzo, whose practice focuses on the enforcement and litigation of IP rights.

Notable among the London appointments is international pro bono director Yasmin Waljee, the firm’s first European pro bono partner. Waljee, who became the firm’s first dedicated UK pro bono lawyer in 1997, said: “We have always sought to apply the innovative talents of lawyers in the firm, in collaboration with civil society partners, to ensure access to justice for under-represented communities.”

The US promotions were spread across six offices, with Washington DC accounting for nine new partners and one apiece getting the nod in Philadelphia, Denver, Boston, Baltimore and Los Angeles. 

The Washington contingent includes litigator Katie Ali, regulatory specialist Lauren Battaglia and trial lawyer Ryan Ford, who has handled litigation for motor vehicle manufacturers in more than 20 jurisdictions across the US.

Elsewhere, Philadelphia-based corporate specialist Jessica A. Bisignano, who joined the firm in 2010 from Pepper Hamilton, was successful, as was Los Angeles-based employment specialist Tao Y. Leung, who moved across from Loeb & Loeb in 2016.

In terms of practice areas, ten partners hailed from corporate and finance, eight from the global regulatory and intellectual property, media and technology group and seven are based in the litigation, arbitration and employment team.

In April last year, incoming chief executive Miguel Zaldivar announced a major shake up of the firm’s structure and leadership in a bid to speed up decision-making.

Click here for a full list of the partners.