Simmons & Simmons hits female promotion target as firms unveil 2026 partner rounds
updated on 28 April 2026
Olivia Thorne (she/her) is the content manager at LawCareers.Net
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Law firm Simmons & Simmons LLP has reached its target for women to represent half of partner promotions for 2026, as the latest promotion cycles continue to be announced across the legal sector.
The firm promoted nine lawyers to partnership, with five of them being women – the highest proportion of new female partners when looking at the other recent announcements across other firms, according to Law.com.
Simmons’ global managing partner Emily Monastiriotis said: “Our internal partner promotions are one of the clearest expressions of who we are as a firm."
Other firms unveiling their latest partner rounds include Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP, Osborne Clarke LLP, Stephenson Harwood LLP and Macfarlanes LLP, reflecting a busy period for partnership decisions across the UK and international legal market.
Half of Osborne Clarke’s six partner promotions are women this year, matching the proportion of female partner promotions the firm made last year. Stephenson Harwood has announced 11 partner promotions for 2026 – six of which are women, marking an increase on the two female partner promotions the firm made last year.
Meanwhile, Macfarlanes and Eversheds Sutherland saw slight decreases in the proportion of women who made partner this year compared to 2025. Two out of Macfarlanes’ four partner promotions for 2026 are women, compared to the six out of nine female partner promotions that it made last year. Eversheds Sutherland promoted 25 new partners in mid-April – 40% of which are women. This marks a decrease on last April when 52% of the firm’s 23 partner promotions were women.
