Unveiling the 2022 Partner Class of our global website, which showcases 54 distinguished lawyers from around the world.
Morgan Lewis, a leading global law firm, has announced the promotion of 54 lawyers to partner and director positions across various locations worldwide, effective January 1, 2022. The promotions cover 11 practice areas, with a significant focus on litigation and disputes, corporate, M&A and securities, banking and finance, and intellectual property.
Among the promoted lawyers, 23 are women, accounting for 43 percent of the total. This promotion round is a testament to Morgan Lewis's commitment to diversity and inclusion, particularly gender equality.
A Balanced Approach to Promotions
The firm has been recognised for its leadership in diversity and inclusion efforts. Morgan Lewis was awarded the LexisNexis International Law Firm of the Year (Women in Law Awards 2025) for the Gulf region and is noted as a "Best Law Firm for Women & Diversity" by Seramount. The firm also scores highly on workplace inclusion indices like the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Equality 100 Award.
However, exact gender percentages among partners and directors at Morgan Lewis were not detailed in the source. Nevertheless, the firm's efforts to promote a balanced gender representation are evident in the current round of promotions.
The Global Landscape of Gender in Law Firms
Globally, women make up the majority of the legal workforce in some countries, such as Australia, but face systemic barriers in reaching senior leadership or partner status. In the UK, women are 62% of solicitors but only 32% of full-equity partners, with certain practice areas having even lower female representation.
Some law firms are actively increasing female partnership quotas, aiming for 40% female partners within a few years. Firms like DWF are implementing comprehensive diversity targets, including achieving at least 40% women in senior management or executive boards by 2025.
Morgan Lewis's Promoted Lawyers
Here are some of the lawyers promoted at Morgan Lewis:
- Matthew Buckle (Litigation and Disputes, London, United Kingdom)
- Jared Kaplan (Corporate, M&A and Securities, New York, United States)
- Victoria Corder (Litigation and Disputes, New York, United States)
- Alison FitzGerald (Litigation and Disputes, Ottawa, Canada)
- Robin Acworth (Corporate, M&A and Securities, Calgary, Canada)
- Denton Nichols (Litigation and Disputes, Houston, United States)
- Joseph Drapalski (Litigation and Disputes, Los Angeles, United States)
- Harriet Oldmeadow (Litigation and Disputes, Sydney, Australia)
- Kimberly Cheeseman (Employment and Labor, Houston, United States)
- Alex Zekkos (Banking and Finance, London, United Kingdom)
- Louisa Roe (Real Estate, London, United Kingdom)
- Gerry Pecht (Global Chief Executive, congratulated the promoted lawyers and praised their industry knowledge, business acumen, and innovative solutions)
And many more. The promotion details, including lawyer names, practice areas, and locations, can be found below.
The Road to Gender Equality in Law Firms
While women make up a slight majority or close to half at entry and mid-level positions in global law firms, they remain underrepresented in senior roles such as partners and directors. For example, women are about 53% of lawyers in firms overall, but only around 30-32% are full-equity partners globally, with some leading firms targeting increases to 40% female partners by 2026-2030.
Morgan Lewis, with its recent promotions, is one of the firms contributing to the ongoing drive for gender balance in senior roles in law firms worldwide.
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*Note: This article has been automatically generated from the provided bullet points and may not contain all the details or context that a human writer would provide.
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The promotions at Morgan Lewis demonstrate a dedicated focus on business diversification, with newly appointed partners and directors specializing in various practice areas such as finance, including Alex Zekkos in Banking and Finance. Moreover, these career advancements support the firm's broader goal of fostering gender equality in finance careers, aligning with their commitment to diversity and inclusion in the law industry.
