Recently UK firms Trowers & Hamlins and Bird & Bird have announced all female partnership promotions, and firms such as Freshfields have introduced mentoring initiatives and seminars which both directly and indirectly benefit female lawyers at the firm, yet such moves are not just about women lawyers moving up, according to those firms involved.

Firms do not attribute the shift to a particular focus on female lawyers progressing, rather it is down to the firm ensuring it acts as a meritocracy, according to Malcolm Lewis, Middle East HR representative for Trowers & Hamlins, which recently announced the promotion of six females to partner, firm-wide. “We have always tried to promote on merit alone rather than gender and have always had female partners in positions of responsibility on the firm's executive committee and the board and one has held the role of finance partner for many years,” Lewis said. Similarly, the Bird & Bird promotions only amounted to two female lawyers progressing so reports were that it was merely a coincidence that two females were lucky enough to be selected.

Female partner promotions would not necessarily be used as a marketing tool to promote Trowers & Hamlins as a female friendly firm either, according to Lewis. “I think we have always believed and said we are a meritocracy and the fact that we have a relatively high number of female partners simply provides hard evidence to back up that assertion. It is however helpful to be able to market ourselves in this way and be able to back it up,” he said.