A host more firms have released their trainee retention figures for the autumn.
Hogan Lovells has kept on 20 of 29 trainees as newly-qualified (NQ) solicitors, including two on fixed-term contracts, after 28 applied for roles. Seven qualifiers join the litigation, arbitration and employment practice, four apiece go to corporate and finance, three go to global regulatory and one to IP, while another will join the Paris office. Hogan Lovells previously retained 19 of 27 this spring.
National firm Devonshires has retained six out of six, while Gowling WLG also notches a 100 per cent record, keeping on all of its 18 final-seats in permanent NQ roles, 10 in Birmingham and eight in London.
Elsewhere, Mishcon de Reya keeps 13 of 16 in permanent NQ positions. DWF, meanwhile, has kept on 25 of 39 qualifiers, with six of those retained on fixed-term contracts.
Finally, Reed Smith keeps 13 of 15 this autumn: 10 in London, two in Singapore and one in Paris. Four join the financial industries group, three each go to energy and to corporate. A further two have taken NQ positions in the firm’s transport industries group, while the final one goes to the employment department.
Though the results from Hogan Lovells and DWF drag the numbers down somewhat, overall trainee retention for the autumn has not been as bad as initially feared, with a healthy 83.6 per cent of trainees across 45 reporting firms retained. The round has been marked, however, by a spate of fixed-term NQ contracts. At least 16 of the 45 reporting firms had used them and three more – Freshfields, Jones Day and Trowers & Hamlins – refused to comment.
