Trowers & Hamlins retains 100 per cent of March qualifiers

Last March the firm kept on only two of its seven trainees, giving a retention rate of 28.5 per cent and resulting in a 55 per cent retention for the whole of 2012. During the 2011 qualificiation process the firm kept on 71 per cent of its trainees.

The 13 newly qualified (NQ) solicitors this March will be spread across Trowers’ UK and Middle East offices, with seven in London, two in Manchester, two in Dubai, one in Bahrain and one in Abu Dhabi.

Trainees will also be spread across departments, joining the corporate, commercial property, housing projects, public sector commercial, property litigation, projects and construction, banking and finance, planning, dispute resolution and litigation, and private wealth teams.

Paul Robinson, director of HR at the firm, commented: “We’ve been very impressed with the calibre of these NQs and are confident that they’ll be excellent additions to their respective departments and teams.

“In what continues to be a challenging market, we remain committed to investing in our trainees and helping them develop successful and rewarding careers in the law.”

The news mirrors a degree of bounceback in the firm’s financial performance last year. Trowers had suffered a significant downturn in its finances during 2010/11, with a 12 per cent slide in turnover, but during 2011/12 turnover increased by 3 per cent to £80.8m, with Trowers’ sizeable Middle East office network accounting for £17.4m in turnover.

Until now only Addleshaw Goddard and Weil Gotshal & Manges have revealed retention rates of 100 per cent this year.