DAC Beachcroft has kept on 13 of its 16 qualifying trainees in newly-qualified (NQ) roles this autumn, a result of 81 per cent.

Eight will be based in London, three in Bristol and one each in Leeds and Manchester, with four joining the insurance team, two professional/commercial risk, one clinical risk, one commercial health, two litigation, two corporate, commercial and regulatory and one employment.

Training partner Anthea Lane said: “This has been a particularly challenging 18 months and I want to thank our NQs for their flexibility and understanding as we have adapted our training programme to remote-working circumstances.

“We are very pleased to have been able to offer permanent roles to all our qualifiers this year and delighted that this cohort has chosen to continue their legal careers with us.  We strive to be the place where talented people want to work and these trainees are helping us make this a reality.”

Elsewhere, Taylor Wessing had 19 in its qualifying cohort, with 15 going through the qualification process. All were offered jobs with 14 accepting, or 73 per cent. Taylor Wessing has also raised salaries by £5,000, to £45,000 and £49,000, for first- and second-year trainees respectively, with the NQ salary moving to £81,000, up from £77,000.

Graduate recruitment partner Lerika Joubert said: “The trainee class of 2019 have shown considerable commitment and resilience, through a very uncertain and challenging period, and have contributed significantly to the continued growth of our firm. We would like to extend our congratulations to everyone on their qualification. I’m pleased that so many have joined us as newly qualified solicitors and look forward to seeing their legal careers flourish at Taylor Wessing”.

Gowling WLG is keeping on 20 of 25, or 80 per cent. Twelve will be based in Birmingham and the rest are in London.  The commercial, employment, pensions and projects group takes four NQs; corporate, finance and tax host six, and dispute resolution and real estate five apiece. All are on permanent contracts.

CMS is retaining 47 of 51 final-seaters, with one on a fixed-term contract. They are split between London (25), Edinburgh (nine), Sheffield (five), Glasgow (three), Aberdeen (two), Bristol (two) and Manchester (one). Twelve join the corporate department, ten each go to real estate and the LAIE (litigation & arbitration, insurance and employment) group, six each take on jobs in energy/projects and TMIC (technology, media, IP and competition). The last three have NQ jobs in the finance teams.

 

Fieldfisher keeps 16 of 20, all on permanent contracts. Thirteen are based in London, two in Birmingham and one in Manchester, with nine going to litigation and employment, six to IP and tech and one to corporate and finance.

Browne Jacobson retains 15 of 17 qualifiers, five in Birmingham, four each in London and Nottingham and two in Manchester. One is on a fixed-term contract. Four take up roles in financial professional risk, two each in commercial and inquests/advisory, with the remainder joining government/infrastructure; banking; social care; construction; clinical negligence; criminal, competition and regulatory; and commercial Dispute Resolution. People Director Declan Vaughan said: “We are delighted to have retained so many after what has been such an uncertain year for all firms. All those who have qualified have shown their talent, professionalism, adaptability and commitment to putting our clients at the forefront of what we do.”

Irwin Mitchell says it is keeping on 52 of 56 trainees, though it is unclear if any are on fixed term contracts.

Marissa Sanders, the firm’s head of early careers, said: “I want to pay tribute to the quality of all our trainees this year, who have had to face the challenges posed by the pandemic while continuing to achieve outstanding results. The supervisors have also had their work cut out to offer the same levels of support trainees need and deserve, while working under the restrictions resulting from lockdown.”

Finally, Gibson Dunn has made offers to all six of its qualifiers, though it has not confirmed whether all have accepted.