Global law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP recently announced the promotion of 15 partners and 16 counsel worldwide with the appointments officially taking effect on January 1, 2027. Following a substantial promotion cycle in the previous year the latest cohort further reinforces the senior legal bench of the firm. Upon the effective date the global partnership of Cleary Gottlieb will expand to 257 partners alongside 57 counsel.

The latest promotions span 12 offices worldwide including New York, Washington, D.C., California, São Paulo, London, Brussels, Paris, Rome, Milan, Cologne, Abu Dhabi, and Hong Kong. The newly elevated lawyers represent core practice areas across corporate M&A, global funds, antitrust, dispute resolution, capital markets, bankruptcy and restructuring, intellectual property and technology transactions, and financial regulation.

In the Asia-Pacific region Hong Kong-based lawyer Xu Mengshan (徐萌杉) was promoted to counsel. Mr. Xu focuses his practice on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and commercial real estate transactions. Prior to joining Cleary Gottlieb he served as Legal Director at private equity firm Skycus Capital following an earlier tenure practicing in the New York office of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. He graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with an LL.B. before earning both a Master of Laws (LL.M.) and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

Jeff KarpfManaging Partner of Cleary Gottlieb stated that exceptional talent remains fundamental to helping clients achieve commercial success. Mr. Karpf expressed pride in congratulating the newly elevated partners and counsel emphasizing that they provide critical counsel on complex and commercially significant matters while embodying the professional standards and strategic vision of the firm.