Asia is the focus of Latham & Watkins’ recent promotions to the partnership of 26 associates, taking three new partners in total in the Hong Kong and Singapore offices.
The promotions follow record figures in the last financial year, with the West Coast firm posting a 17 per cent growth in turnover, to $1.41bn (£747m). Earlier this year, Latham announced that its average profit per equity partner had also skyrocketed by 20 per cent, to $1.6m (£848,000).
Latham’s Hong Kong office garnered two partners, Patrick Flanagan and Julie Gao, who have expertise in finance and capital markets respectively, while the Singapore office saw Clarinda Tjia-Dharmadi made up as a finance partner.
Tjia-Dharmadi’s promotion follows the August hire of corporate counsel Rajiv Gupta from Davis Polk & Wardwell in what was an explicit statement that Latham intends to service Indian clients out of its Singapore office.
Other offices to do well out of the promotions include New York, with five partners, and the firm’s Los Angeles headquarters, with four.
Although all five of the firm’s practice areas were represented in the promotions, of the new partners, nearly 40 per cent specialise in corporate finance.
Latham’s partner promotions closely follow those of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which announced eight new partners and six new counsel worldwide yesterday.
