Top 10 US firm White & Case has promoted 42 attorneys to its partnership, down from 46 last year, with the proportion of women slipping from 52% to 36%.

The 2024 appointments, which will be effective from January, shows strong diversity in terms of practice areas and geographic locations, underscoring the New York-based firm’s global reach.

Lawyers from 11 global practices and 18 of the firm’s 44 offices worldwide feature in this year’s promotion round. However, 15 women were promoted this year, constituting 36% of the total class, a fall on 2022, when women made up 52% of the total, although the figure is higher than the 31% achieved in 2021.

Heather McDevitt, who succeeded Hugh Verrier as the firm’s first female chair in October 2023, said: “Our 2024 class reflects the strength of our firm. These 42 outstanding lawyers have a diversity of expertise, skills and backgrounds that mirror the complex legal challenges our clients face across the globe.”

The firm’s M&A practice again accounted for the biggest share of this year’s intake, with 11 M&A lawyers making the cut. The project development and finance practice saw the second highest number of promotions with eight, followed by the commercial litigation practice, which elevated six. 

The international arbitration team is welcoming four new partners, while antitrust, debt finance and capital markets accounted for three promotions each. Overall, disputes-related promotions amounted to 33% of the total. 

While the Americas featured strongly, with 14 new partners (33%), the firm’s EMEA region amounted for more than half the total (57%), with 24 partners making the grade. There were four promotions in the Asia-Pacific region (9.5%). Two of those promoted in London are expected to relocate to Abu Dhabi in the New Year.

The firm’s London office continued to reflect growth. In 2023, seven were promoted to partner, of whom three are women. Since 2018, White & Case has promoted 56 London lawyers to partner, in addition to making 43 strategic lateral hires. 

The number of partners in the London office has increased by 29% since the start of 2018, growing from 105 to 135 partners. The firm said the growth was a testament to its emphasis on internal promotions and strategic lateral hires to bolster its presence in key markets.

However, London numbers have varied over the last few years, with 10 lawyers making the grade in 2022, eight the year before that, just three making the cut in 2019 and 13 in 2018, five years ago.

The firm’s latest diversity figures, published in March in its 2022 Annual Review, put the proportion of women in the global partnership at 23%, with women making up 40% of the global management and 25% of the executive committee. The firm said it had stepped up its global data collection in 2022 to “better understand our workforce and address underrepresentation”.

In April, the firm posted a 1.5% dip in revenue for 2022 against a 20% decline in profit-per-equity partner (PEP) to $2.8m.

White & Case Partner Class 2024

Americas
Kyle Bady (Debt Finance, Miami) 
Mariele Coulet-Diaz, (International Arbitration, Mexico City) 
Fernando Garcia (Commercial Litigation, Mexico City)
Rebeca García-Lopez (Capital Markets, Mexico City)
Kevin Georgek (IP, New York)
Heather Greenfield (Antitrust, Washington DC)
Scott Lerner (Commercial Litigation, Washington DC)
Sergio Marquez Garcia Moreno (M&A, Mexico City)
Yehuda Rubel (Debt Finance, New York) 
Kathrin Schwesinger (M&A, New York)
Raffaele Montenero Turco (Projects, New York)
Ryan Ulloa (Commercial Litigation Practice, Miami)
Eric Urschel (Tax, Washington DC).
Michael Yates (Projects, Houston).

EMEA 
Victor Aberg (M&A, Helsinki) 
Mark Andrews (Projects, London) 
Alicia Bali (M&A, Paris)
Laure Bauduret (M&A, Paris)
Stefano Bellani (Debt Finance, Milan) 
Jens Broemmelmeier (Insolvency, Berlin)
Anouk Clamens (Antitrust, Paris)
Tom Clarke (M&A, London)
Piero de Mattia, (Capital Markets, Milan)
Filippa Exelin (International Arbitration, Stockholm)
Raif Hassan (Commercial Litigation, London)
Thyl Hassler (M&A, Dusseldorf)
Rasmus Luning (International Arbitration, Stockholm)
Claire Patrick (Projects, London/ Abu Dhabi) 
Caitlin Powell Gimpel (M&A, Milan/ Chicago)
Hugues Racovski (M&A, Paris)
Habeeb Rahman (Construction, Abu Dhabi)
Aimy Roshan (Construction, Dubai)
Emiko Singh (International Arbitration, London) 
Anna Soroka (Capital Markets, London)
Felix Thillaye (Commercial Litigation, Paris) 
Thilo Wienke (Antitrust, Dusseldorf)
Alex Woodfield (M&A, London)
Vaclav Zaloudek (Commercial Litigation, Prague)

APAC 
Cristian Blumm (Projects, Singapore)
Fiona Curl, (Projects, Melbourne)
Chris Settle (Projects, Melbourne)
Yan Yan (M&A, Shanghai)