Slaughter and May has announced today (12 July) that it will retain 91% of its second-year trainees for newly qualified (NQ) lawyer positions at the firm this autumn.
The firm is the first of the Magic Circle to post its retention rates this year, having been the last in autumn 2016. Of a 32-strong cohort, 30 qualifiers put themselves forward and the firm made 30 offers, of which 29 were accepted.
Slaughters’ autumn trainee retention figures are down 9% from its spring 2017 rates, which saw the City heavyweight keep 100% of its 25 trainees in NQ positions at the firm.
Commenting on the result in a statement, the firm said the retention rate remains in line with previous years.
‘We remain encouraged by our consistently high retention rates and are confident that all these talented lawyers will make a strong contribution to the firm,’ a spokesperson stated.
This spring, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) announced they would retain 84% and 82% of their trainees respectively, while Linklaters kept on 86% to become NQ lawyers. All the other Magic Circle firms surpassed Clifford Chance (CC) in retention rates, which held on to 67% of its spring trainees earlier this year.
In autumn 2016, Linklaters posted the highest trainee retention rate of the Magic Circle firms, with 91% trainees kept on to NQ posts, while Freshfields posted a 95% retention rate, and A&O retained 86% of its NQs.
Clifford Chance, after announcing in 2016 that it would cull its trainee intake by 20% by 2018, again posted the lowest autumn 2016 retention rate, although it still retained 82% of its second-year trainee cohort.
Georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk
