Bird & Bird promotes 14 as partners in Europe-centric exercise

Bird & Bird promotes 14 as partners in Europe-centric exercise

The global law firm gears up for a post-pandemic scenario, but gender disparities remain the moot point after the recent round of promotions

Global law firm Bird & Bird has announced promotion following its annual partnership round in a bid to gear up for the post-pandemic scenario under which the number of litigations is expected to shoot up drastically.

The firm has promoted 14 individuals as partners, up from just seven last year.

While 11 of them assume charge as partners from this month, while three of them were appointed in November 2020.

The entire exercise is Europe-centric as there was no partner promotion in Asia and Australia. The gender disparities continue to remain there since out of 14, only four women were promoted as partners, the same as the last year.

Germany received the largest share with four promotions. It included two IP specialists, namely Marc Grunwald and Roman Brtka, both in Munich, while Hamburg-based commercial lawyer Miriam Ballhausen and antitrust specialist Stephan Waldheim, who works out of the Dusseldorf office, make up for the remaining two.

London and Warsaw witnessed three promotions each. In London, stepping up the ladder are IP lawyer Chris de Mauny, Gavin Punia (finance) and Richard Bush (commercial) while in Warsaw Karolina Stawicka (employment), Marcin Swierzewski (real estate, from November) and Maciej Georg (finance) were promoted as partners.

Denmark, France, Italy and Spain witnessed one promotion each. Copenhagen-based Annette Printz-Nielsen (from November) and Madrid's Pablo Berenguer have been promoted from the commercial team, while IP specialist Edoardo Barbera made the grade in Milan and corporate lawyer Carole Bodin stepped up in Paris.

Overall, commercial and IP claimed the lion's share of practice area promotions.

Graeme Maguire, chair of the board, offered his "heartfelt congratulations" to the cohort.

"In the face of a very challenging year, your dedication to your clients and commitment to your teams has shone through. I look forward to celebrating with you all in person when we can," Bird & Bird CEO David Kerr, added.

There was no disputes promotion in 2021 mainly due to four new hires this year.

The firm had hired Nick Peacock from Herbert Smith Freehills in April this year to head up its international arbitration practice. He has been tasked to develop Bird & Bird's reach in London, Singapore, India, and Scandinavia, all key markets for the firm.

In February, the two-partner disputes practice team of Luis Alfonso Fernandez Manzano and Virginia Martinez Fernandez moved from Hogan Lovells in Madrid while the firm had hired former Proskauer Rose partner David Chu in Hong Kong at the start of 2021.