Magic circle firm Linklaters has promoted a record number of women to its partnership this year with nine among its 21 appointments.

The number of promotions dropped from 24 last year, when only three of those made up were women.

The elections will bring the total number of global female partners up to 18% of the firm’s 457 partners, an increase from 16% in May 2013.

The appointments cover 11 jurisdictions across eight areas of practice. Of those promoted, 14 are based outside London.

Three senior members of business services have been promoted to associate director and 22 lawyers have also been promoted to counsel.

Research from Chambers Student Guide shows 24% of the firm’s UK partners are female – higher than the rest of the magic circle, which has an average of 19% female partners. 

The promotions take effect on 1 May 2014.

The 21 new partners are:

Jorge Alegre, capital markets, Madrid

Markus Appel, mainstream corporate, Berlin

Pornpan Chayasuntorn, banking/capital markets, Bangkok

Peter Cohen-Millstein, mainstream corporate, New York

Tessa Davis, banking/projects, Singapore

Michael Ehret, tax, Frankfurt

Nuno Ferreira Lousa, litigation, Lisbon

Adam Fogarty, capital markets, London

Jonathan Fried, capital markets/projects, Dubai

Motoyasu Fujita, capital markets, Tokyo

Xiaohui Ji, banking, Beijing

Nick Le Masurier, banking (R&I), London

Tracey Lochhead, mainstream corporate, London

Annamaria Mangiaracina, competition/antitrust, Brussels

Matthew Monahan, capital markets, London

Jillian Naylor, employment & incentives, London

Michael Ng, capital markets, Hong Kong

Matthew Poulter, banking/capital markets, New York

Kirsty Thomson, banking (K&L), London

Alison Wilson, litigation, London

Fay Zhou, competition/antitrust, Beijing