Contrasting autumn retention results
Big name corporate law firms Travers Smith and Eversheds have released their trainee retention results.
Travers has kept all but one of its new qualifiers from a cohort of 18, which gives it a retention rate of 94%. Meanwhile, Eversheds has announced today that 40 of a 52-strong trainee cohort will remain at the firm, equating to an autumn retention figure of 77%.
Travers — which recently upped junior lawyer pay to £71,500 — confirmed that six new associates will be based in the firm’s private equity team, and that commercial and dispute resolution would receive two each. The remaining seven NQs will be split across pensions, tax, corporate finance, funds, real estate, finance and financial services.
This time last year Travers posted the exact same result. Again from a cohort of 18, just one NQ left.
Returning to Eversheds, the firm revealed that 18 of its new qualifiers will start associate life in its company and commercial department. A further nine will be based in litigation and dispute management, eight will start associate-life in real estate, and the remaining five NQs will be heading to Eversheds’ human resource team.
Eversheds’ London office will receive the lion’s share of the new legal talent, gaining 17 lawyers in total. The firm’s Birmingham outpost will receive seven associates, meanwhile the Cardiff, Leeds and Nottingham will acquire four new lawyers each. With one NQ heading to Manchester, the final new recruit — who could probably benefit from one the firm’s free ice cream giveaways — will be based in Doha.
NQs based in London will receive a salary of £62,000, while those starting out life as a lawyer in the regions will pocket a figure closer to £40,000.
Earlier this year the firm posted a perfect spring retention score of 100%, but from a much smaller trainee intake of just eight.