Baker McKenzie Announces 81 Partner Promotions, including two partners from the Tokyo office

With 34 laterals the Firm adds 115 to Partner ranks

Global, Japan July 1, 2019 – Leading global law firm Baker McKenzie is pleased to announce the election of 81 new partners. This latest investment in the Firm’s expertise grows the total number of partners worldwide to 1550. Over 400 of these are women – the most of any law firm.

This year women make up more than 40% of the newly promoted cohort of 81 partners; a market-leading number for any law firm. The promotions take effect from 1 July. In addition, 48 Partners were promoted to Principal (Equity Partners).

Across the Firm’s practice groups globally, Tax and M&A saw the largest intake of new partners, with Dispute Resolution also significantly adding to their numbers.

During the Financial Year 2018 Baker McKenzie also added 34 lateral hires, strengthening the Firm’s already strong client service capabilities in key practice areas. Combining this year’s promotions and new lateral talent, the Firm added 115 partners to its ranks.

Jaime Trujillo, Acting Global Chair of Baker McKenzie, said:

“Congratulations to each of our newly elected Partners and lateral Partners. We proudly maintain our industry-leading commitment to Diversity & Inclusion, as once again 40% of our new partners globally are women. We also continue to attract leading lateral partners who value the innovative and purposeful culture we foster every day at Baker McKenzie. But we need to do better and that is why I am delighted that we made a public commitment earlier this week to a Global Aspirational target of 40:40:20 by 2025 earlier this week.”

In the Tokyo office, Mihoko Ida (Corporate M&A) and Kosuke Suzuki (Banking & Finance) have been promoted to partners effective 1 July 2019. “Our role as a global law firm in helping Japanese companies succeed in a competitive world is becoming more important every year,” commented the Tokyo office’s newly appointed Managing Partner, Hiroshi Kondo. “We are confident that the wealth of knowledge and experience in cross-border deals the two newly appointed partners offer will be of great help to our clients in accomplishing their wide range of business goals.”

New partners at the Tokyo office

Mihoko Ida
Corporate/M&A Ms. Ida has over ten years of experience practicing law in Japan. She focuses on mergers and acquisitions (especially corporate reorganization), labor/employment laws, environmental laws, and general commercial and corporate law. She was seconded to the Firm’s Chicago office between 2011 and 2012. She has been involved in many global/cross-border mergers and acquisitions and corporate reorganizations, and advised on organizational restructuring of Japanese and international corporations.

Kosuke Suzuki
Banking & Finance Partner
Mr. Suzuki regularly advises clients on a wide range of finance and securitization matters. He was seconded to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) in Singapore (Project Finance Group) for 1 year and also he was seconded to Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) for 2 years. He has co-authored “A Strategic Manual for Creditors in Bankruptcy Proceedings”, as well as a number of publications on criminal law. He focuses his practice on the legal aspects of project finance, PFI, M&A finance, real estate finance and securitization.

The newly elected partners are:

Antitrust & Competition

Nadia Goreslavskaya (Moscow)
Christiaan van der Meer (Amsterdam)
James Robinson (London)
Johannes Weichbrodt (Dusseldorf)
John J. Fedele (Washington)*

Banking & Finance

Chavapol Akkaravoranun (Bangkok)
Grace Li (Shanghai)
Kosuke Suzuki (Tokyo)
Fatima Alhasan (Bahrain)
Eric Blomme (Brussels)
Sarah Porter (London)
Patricia (Marianna) Ostolaza (Lima)**
Frank Grese (New York)*

Capital Markets

Louis Hsieh (Taipei)
Henric Roth (Stockholm)

Dispute Resolution

Daisy Chung (Taipei)
Joanna Ouyang (Taipei)
Tony Tang (Taipei)
Alexander Korobeinikov (Almaty)
Gemma Willingham (London)
Luca Pescatore (Rome)
Luis Borghi (Sao Paulo)
Jessica L. Averitt (Houston)*
Javier Jaime-Gonzalez (Monterrey)*
Roberta Chan (Hong Kong)
Helen Joyce (Melbourne)

Employment & Compensation

Danielle Pinedo (Amsterdam)
Nam-Ake Lekfuangfu (Bangkok)
Priscila Kirchhoff (Sao Paulo)***
Melissa Allchin (Chicago)*
Elizabeth Ebersole (Chicago)*
Jordan A. Kirkness (Toronto)*

International & Commercial Trade

Milena Hoffmanova (Prague)
Ana Sofia Reyna (Lima)**
Mohammad M. Alturk (Dallas)*
John M. Foote (Washington)*

IP Tech

Pattaraphan Paiboon (Bangkok)
Helen Brown (London)
Julia Hemmings (London)
Florian Tannen (Munich)
Lukas Feiler (Vienna)
Adam D. Aft (Chicago)*
Brandon Moseberry (Chicago)*
Christine M. Streatfeild (Washington)*

Mergers & Acquisitions

Mihoko Ida (Tokyo)
Gerrit Jan Kleute (Jakarta)**
Lawrence Mendes (Sydney)
Waratchaya Tungsuwan (Bangkok)
Robert Wright (Hong Kong)**
Hani Naja (Abu Dhabi)
Ghada El Ehwany (Cairo)
Geraldine Mirelman (Buenos Aires)*
Martin Roth (Buenos Aires)*
Paolo Robilliard (Lima)
Felipe Calil (Sao Paulo)***
J. Brook Mestre (Dallas)*
Carlo Andoni Perez-Arizti Morales (Mexico City)*
Scott D. Meselson (San Francisco)*

Private Equity

David Hart (London)
Phelim O’Doherty (London)

Pro Bono

Kate Gillingham (Sydney)

Projects

Franco Aversa (Sydney)
Sun Kyun Lim (Singapore)
Ilona Millar (Sydney)
Lucas Tyszkiewicz (Sydney)
Leo Vellis (Sydney)
Marco Antonio Nieto-Vazquez (Mexico City)*

Real Estate

Rita Marchetti (Milan)

Tax

Marina Tokunova (Moscow)
Elliot Murray (Geneva)
Horacio Neto (Rio de Janeiro)***

Matthew Hayes (Chicago)*
Meaghan Wolfe (Chicago)*
Jason A. Graham (Dallas)*
Rodney W. Read (Houston)*
Javier Ordonez Namihira (Mexico City)*
Amanda T. Kottke (Palo Alto)*
Adam T. O’Brien (San Francisco)*
Maurice Moe Worsley (San Francisco)*
Saman Kamyans (Washington)*
Amanda W. Martin (Washington)*

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* Promotions effective January 1, 2019
** Partner equivalent
*** Trench Rossi Watanabe, a Brazilian law firm in cooperation agreement with Baker McKenzie