Duo both keep 85% of new-qualifiers — hanging onto a combined 34 trainees out of 40
Well-known London private client firm Mishcon de Reya and self-styled northern powerhouse Addleshaw Goddard have both announced trainee retention rates of 85%.
Mishcon has today revealed that 11 of their 13 strong qualifying trainee cohort will remain with it upon qualification.
The firm, which began life in a one-room office in Brixton, south London, seems to be in good health. Earlier this month, Legal Cheek revealed that it was upping its target trainee intake from 12 to 15 — part of a wider City trend that has seen graduate numbers increased by a host of firms, including White & Case, Ashurst and Squire Patton Boggs.
Meanwhile, Addleshaw Goddard has revealed that it is hanging onto 23 out of 27 trainees.
The firm told Legal Cheek that 13 of the newly qualified solicitors would remain at Addleshaw’s City of London headquarters, while the Manchester office would receive eight rookies and Leeds would gain six.
Both Mishcon and Addleshaw have improved on their autumn 2014 retention figures, when they kept, respectively, 72% and 82% of their trainees.
Pay at the two outfits varies. At Lincoln’s Inn Fields-based Mishcon, trainees start on what is a relatively modest — by London commercial law firm standards — £34,000. However the firm prefers not disclose what it pays its newly qualified (NQ) associates. Please feel free to enlighten us in the comments.
Like many firms with a presence in the regions, there is a big discrepancy between what Addleshaw pays its junior lawyer in and outside London. Trainees in the capital start on £37,000, but those up north get just £25,000, while newly qualified rates are £62,000 in the Square Mile but a mere £40,000 in Leeds and Manchester.