Firm declines to comment on how many trainees started this round’s qualification process
City law firm Simmons & Simmons has held on to seven out of nine of its lawyers who qualified last month, equating to a spring 2016 retention result of 78%. But that may not be the whole story…
The international outfit — that offers around 38 training contracts in London annually — confirmed that eight UK trainees were offered full time positions, with seven duly accepting.
However, despite Simmons & Simmons confirming that nine trainees “went through” the qualification process, the firm wasn’t willing to disclose how many actually started it. Having pushed the firm for further information on this matter, Legal Cheek was met with a mysterious wall of silence.
It’s worth noting that six Simmons & Simmons trainees did not complete their training contracts in the previous retention round last autumn.
Drop outs are continuing to blight firms’ retention figures this year. Just two weeks ago, legal blog Roll on Friday reported that two trainees at corporate giant Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) had bailed midway through their training contracts. One trainee, who was in their second seat, is said to have ditched the firm to pursue a career as a teacher. Meanwhile, the other trainee, who had only been at BLP a matter of months, apparently quit to join another firm.
Biting the bullet, BLP included the defectors in its overall spring figure, resulting in a disappointingly low retention result of just 70%.
The seven fresh-faced associates who have committed their future to Simmons & Simmons will start on £68,000.
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