Freehills has promoted four senior associates into the partnership effective 1 January 2012.

Despite the firm traditionally appointing new partners mid-year, litigation senior associate Caroline Cox and employee relations senior associate Ben Dudley have been promoted in Sydney, while banking and projects senior associates Martin MacDonald and Juan-Jose Zentner have been promoted in Melbourne.

Freehills CEO Gavin Bell welcomed the latest entrants to the partnership and congratulated them on their “high standard of industry expertise”.

“We are seeing a strong demand in areas such as energy & resources, employment and industrial relations, banking, infrastructure, corporate regulatory and dispute resolution. These appointments reflect our anticipated growth in these areas,” he said.