Speechly Bircham, the London-based law firm, has made two partner promotions in a bid to strengthen its focus on the private wealth sector.

Dominic Lawrance, described as having a growing portfolio of wealthy individual clients and trustee clients who he helps with tax, trusts and estate planning questions, is one of the new partners. He recently returned from a six-month secondment to the firm’s office in Zurich, which he helped establishing from its opening in June last year.

Speechly Bircham has also appointed James Freeman as head of the firm’s family team following the recent departure of Christopher Butler. Freeman has been part of the family team since 2006, and advises on all issues arising from relationship breakdown, especially those involving complex financial cases, tax efficient financial settlements or cohabitation law.

At the beginning of April, Butler was appointed to the family team at Boodle Hatfield, the UK law firm.