Bird & Bird has revealed its autumn retention for 2015, with 15 of 18 staying on at the firm as newly-qualified (NQ) solicitors.
This translates to an 83 per cent retention rate, which is lower than last year when 14 out of the 15 qualifying trainees accepted offers.
It is also a dip from 2013, when the firm recorded a 94 per cent retention rate, offering all 16 of its qualifiers NQ jobs with 15 acceptances.
This year, 16 of the 18 trainees were made offers, and the firm told Lawyer 2B that the only non-acceptance was from a trainee who decided to leave law and work in a lion sanctuary in South Africa.
Six of the 15 NQs retained at Bird & Bird in 2015 have joined the intellectual property practice, with five joining commercial and one apiece going to employment, risk and compliance, dispute resolution, and corporate.
In the last three years, of those qualifiers who stayed on at the firm, nearly 40 per cent have joined the commercial team, with one in every three going to the IP department.
Bird & Bird’s news means 30 firms have declared their retention figures so far, with 551 of 639 qualifiers (86 per cent) staying on at the firm that trained them.
Autumn 2015 retention so far | Trainees retained | Total number of qualifiers | Percentage retained |
---|---|---|---|
Burges Salmon | 24 | 24 | 100 |
Jones Day | 15 | 15 | 100 |
White & Case | 14 | 14 | 100 |
Shearman & Sterling | 13 | 13 | 100 |
Weil Gotshal | 9 | 9 | 100 |
Cripps | 8 | 8 | 100 |
Covington & Burling | 7 | 7 | 100 |
Sullivan & Cromwell | 4 | 4 | 100 |
Clifford Chance | 45 | 47 | 96 |
Latham & Watkins | 20 | 21 | 95 |
Travers Smith | 17 | 18 | 94 |
Walker Morris | 13 | 14 | 93 |
Herbert Smith Freehills | 34 | 37 | 92 |
Slaughter and May | 33 | 37 | 89 |
Mills & Reeve | 14 | 16 | 88 |
Taylor Wessing | 20 | 23 | 87 |
Allen & Overy | 38 | 44 | 86 |
Ashurst | 18 | 21 | 86 |
Linklaters | 46 | 55 | 84 |
Freshfields | 40 | 48 | 83 |
Bird & Bird | 15 | 18 | 83 |
Foot Anstey | 5 | 6 | 83 |
Hogan Lovells | 23 | 29 | 79 |
Fieldfisher | 10 | 13 | 77 |
Nabarro | 10 | 13 | 77 |
Berwin Leighton Paisner | 17 | 24 | 71 |
Trowers & Hamlins | 5 | 7 | 71 |
Simmons & Simmons | 18 | 28 | 64 |
Ince & Co | 9 | 15 | 60 |
Mayer Brown* | 7 | 11 | 55 |