Herbert Smith has made up a record 18 associates to the partnership and a third of them are women.

The bulk of the promotions were made around the firm's international network with just eight of the 18 based in the London office. As last year, when the firm made up a total of 10, the corporate practice gained the highest number of new partners at seven. Litigation and arbitration has gained five new partners while finance and real estate will receive two new partners apiece and employment and competition each gain one.

Senior partner David Gold said the geographic and departmental splits had been very deliberate. "This year's promotions will support two of our key strategic priorities, namely strengthening our international capability and further developing the distinctive breadth and balance of our practice," he added. "Both are pivotal to our ability to support clients and maintain high activity levels across the range of economic cycles."

In terms of offices, after London, Paris has gained four new partners while Hong Kong and Tokyo have each gained two and Beijing and Brussels have gained one each. This is a big shift in strategy from last year's promotions when Hong Kong received one internal promotion with the remaining nine going to the London office.