Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has posted a spring trainee retention rate of 77%, compared to a rate of 94% this time last year when the firm recorded its third straight score of more than 90%.
HSF held on to 27 applicants which joined the firm as newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers, as 28 out of 33 applicants received offers, from a cohort of 35.
Hogan Lovells posted an 79% retention rate this spring. The firm had 29 qualifiers, 26 applied for the role and 23 were made offers, which were all accepted. This is similar to Hogan Lovells’ last retention round in August 2016 when its rate was 80%.
Meanwhile, Macfarlanes joined Mayer Brown and Slaughter and May as firms with 100% spring retention rates. Macfarlanes offered an NQ contract to all six trainees qualifying this March.
Macfarlanes partner and head of graduate recruitment Sean Lavin said: ‘It is always our aim to find roles for all our trainees upon qualification and we are obviously delighted to have been able to offer 100% retention for our March 2017 intake.’
Other firms to announce rates so far this spring include White & Case, which retained 88% of trainees, and Trowers & Hamlins which posted a rate of 92%. At the bottom of the table so far are Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Clifford Chance (CC) with 55% and 67% respectively. BLP only retained 11 out of 20 trainees, while CC kept 31 out of its 46 applicants.
georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk
