Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton’s London office has benefited from the latest round of partner promotions, taking two partners and a counsel from its ranks of associates, its biggest haul in recent years.

The London office now has 18 partners enjoying an average PEP of £966,000. The new partners, are M&A lawyer Tihir Sarkar and corporate finance lawyer Raj Panasar, with counsel Kate Habershon specialising in corporate tax.

Germany also did well out of the promotions. Cleary made up Oliver Schröder as a corporate partner in a move that will boost the firm’s M&A offering in Cologne after its coup in netting Jürgen Sieger from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in July.

The firm, which operates a 14-year classic lockstep, split its eight new partners between its New York and European offices, as well as one new counsel in Moscow. Cleary now has 189 partners worldwide.

Globally, the practice areas to benefit from the freshly made-up partners are corporate/M&A (three partners), litigation and arbitration (two partners, one counsel), tax (one partner, two counsel), finance (one partner, two counsel) and employment (one partner).

Firm managing partner Mark Walker said in a statement: “These outstanding individuals reflect the firm’s commitment to legal excellence, internationalism and diversity.”