A&O Shearman has promoted 33 lawyers to partner in its first round since its transatlantic merger went live in May 2024.
Nine lawyers were promoted in London, the highest number in any single office, but overall numbers are down compared to A&O’s own rounds pre-merger.
A&O Shearman has promoted 33 lawyers to partner in its first round of promotions since the merger between legacy firms Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling went live in May last year, with nine making the grade in London.
The promotions offer an early glimpse into the merged firm’s evolving strategy and talent priorities, following a major post-merger restructuring last year that saw around 10% of equity partners cut as it moved to a single all-equity partnership model.
The 2025 round sees new partners made up across 11 practice areas and 16 offices globally, with London getting the highest number of promotions.
The reduced size of this year’s round also reflects a shift in scale from pre-merger years.
In total, this year’s 33 promotions mark a smaller intake than the combined 40 promoted by the legacy firms in 2024 (32 at A&O, eight at Shearman), and smaller still than A&O’s 36 in 2023 and 39 in 2022.
Who made the grade in London
The nine who made partner in London:
- Tina Barazandeh-Nejad - M&A
- Evgenia Erakhtina - Asset Finance
- Temilope Esho - Debt Finance
- James Green - Debt Finance
- Xin Ni Lim - Debt Finance
- Aoife Mac Dermott - M&A
- Thomas McGuffie - Markets Innovation Group
- Emma Perrin - Real Estate
- Fatima Al-Shawaf - M&A
What they said
The firm’s leadership praised the new cohort, with senior partner Khalid Garousha calling the group "instrumental" to the firm’s future.
Co-chair Adam Hakki said the promotions "will play an important role in realizing our vision to be the global elite law firm".
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