29 out of 32 rookies commit their future to the elite magic circle firm
Slaughter and May has announced 91% of its September qualifiers will be staying on at the firm.
The elite magic circle outfit, which offers around 80 London training contracts annually, has confirmed today that 32 associates-to-be had applied for full-time positions, with 29 staying on. This equates to a solid autumn retention figure of 91%.
Legal Cheek’s Most List shows that those opting to stick around will see their pay packets swell from £48,000 (second year trainee salary) to £78,000 (newly qualified (NQ) salary), an increase of £30,000 or 63%. It’s worth noting the firm rolled out a series of pay freezes across its London office earlier this summer.
The Bunhill Row bunch has remained tightlipped about which departments its newbies will begin their NQ life, but Legal Cheek understands there is a good spread across the firm’s key specialisms.
Commenting on today’s result, a spokesperson for the firm said:
Our overall retention rate was again in line with previous years. We remain encouraged by our consistently high retention rates and are confident that all these talented lawyers will make a strong contribution to the firm.
Slaughter and May is traditionally a strong retention performer, regularly posting results of around 90%. In the past 12 months, the magic circle outfit has racked up rates of 100% (25 out of 25) and 89% (32 out of 36).
So what’s lawyer life like at one of the City’s top players? In Legal Cheek’s 2016 Trainee & Junior Lawyer Survey, Slaughter and May scored an A for its training and Bs for, among other things, quality of work, peer support and perks. The firm — which has just four offices across the globe — scored Cs for partner approachability and social life.
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