Clifford Chance targets Asia with bumper partner promotion round

Clifford Chance has put Asian expansion to the core of its strategy in this year’s round of partnership promotions, with more than half of its 23 new partners coming from the continent.

The magic circle firm has promoted a total of 23 lawyers to the partnership, one more than last year, with 12 coming from Asia, ten of whom are based in Greater China.

Only four new partners will be based in the City after last year’s round saw five London-based lawyers made up to partner (4 May 2010) .

In practice area terms, corporate was the best represented with eight new partners, while six are drawn from the capital markets group and a further five from the finance practice. Two new partners apiece come from the litigation and tax, pensions and employment groups.

Managing partner David Childs said in a statement: “These new partners represent the future of the firm.  They already play leading roles in the development of our business and in ensuring that Clifford Chance provides the most integrated high-quality client offer of any international law firm.  The significant number of promotions in Asia this year, reflects the vibrant nature of our business in the region, which is further bolstered by the enthusiasm and dedication of these individuals.”

Clifford Chance is the last of the magic circle firms to announce its 2011 partnership promotions. Allen & Overy has made up 21 partners across 13 offices (4 April 2011), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer promoted 20 (4 March 2011), while Linklaters made up 18 new partners (11 April 2011).

The full list of new partners at Clifford Chance is as follows:

Corporate

Mo Al-Shukairy– Dubai

Neeraj Budhwani– Hong Kong

Kelly Gregory– Shanghai

Virginia Lee– Hong Kong

Glen Ma – Shanghai

Dessislava Savova– Paris

Narind Singh– London

Jeroen Thijssen– Amsterdam

Capital Markets

Matthew Fairclough– Hong Kong

Eduardo Garcia– Madrid

Johannes Juette– Singapore

Bruce Kahl – London

Hyun Kim – Hong Kong

Jean Thio – Shanghai

Finance

Paul Greenwell– Hong Kong

Sandy Hall – Abu Dhabi

Maggie Lo – Beijing

Dauwood Malik– Hong Kong

Merrick White– Singapore

Litigation/Dispute resolution

Helen Carty – London

Antonio Golino– Milan

Tax, pensions and employment

Sonia Gilbert– London

Pablo Serrano– Madrid