79% and 67% scores
Clyde & Co and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) have announced dissimilar retention performances, as another unpredictable autumn qualification season draws to a close.
First up, Clyde & Co. The aviation and energy specialist — which offers around 50 training contracts annually — has revealed that of its 43 September qualifiers, 34 have committed their future to the firm. This equates to a solid autumn result of 79%. An additional newly qualified (NQ) lawyer has been placed on a six-month fixed term contract.
The fresh faced associates will be split across 12 of the outfit’s key practice areas including aviation, corporate, insurance, international arbitration, and ship finance. Clyde & Co’s London headquarters will receive the lion’s share of the new legal talent with 31 NQs, while its Manchester hub will receive two. The firm’s Guildford and San Francisco outposts will gain one newbie each.
The London-based NQ lawyers will start on a salary of £63,000. Clyde & Co’s first year trainees earn £36,000, rising to £38,000 in year two.
Meanwhile, BLP has chalked up an autumn retention score of 67%. The outfit — which recently offered its City trainees a secondment option at its Manchester office — revealed that 16 of its 24 autumn NQs had signed associate deals. One trainee, included in the 24 total, left the firm six months into their training contract.
BLP’s new recruits will now earn £70,000, putting them on a pay par with their peers at Reed Smith and Watson Farley & Williams. Trainees currently earn £40,000 in year one, and £45,000 in year two.
Although not the best, today’s result is a notable improvement on BLP’s spring score. On that occasion the firm kept just 55% of its new rookies or 11 out of 20.
Away from retention news, but sticking with BLP, the firm’s London office recently played host to ‘Brexit — The Musical’. The musical — which Legal Cheek went along to watch earlier this month — was written by the firm’s antitrust and competition partner Chris Bryant and includes big political characters Theresa May, Boris Johnson, David Cameron and (probably the star of the show) Andrea Leadsom.
Trainee autumn retention 2017
| Firm | Score | Breakdown |
| Burges Salmon | 100% | 28/28 |
| Watson Farley & Williams | 100% | 15/15 |
| Fieldfisher | 100% | 13/13 |
| Blake Morgan | 100% | 9/9 |
| Forsters | 100% | 8/8 |
| Sullivan & Cromwell | 100% | 4/4 |
| Latham & Watkins | 95% | 21/22 |
| Ashurst | 95% | 19/20 |
| Macfarlanes | 92% | 23/25 (two on FTC*) |
| Slaughter and May | 91% | 29/32 |
| Travers Smith | 90% | 18/20 |
| Ince & Co | 90% | 9/10 |
| Stephenson Harwood | 90% | 9/10 |
| Blake Morgan | 89% | 8/9 |
| Reed Smith | 86% | 12/14 |
| Allen & Overy | 85% | 40/47 |
| Linklaters | 84% | 47/56 |
| Gowling WLG | 84% | 21/25 |
| Bird & Bird | 83% | 15/18 |
| White & Case | 83% | 15/18 |
| Covington & Burling | 83% | 5/6 |
| Osborne Clarke | 82% | 14/17 |
| RPC | 82% | 14/17 |
| Clifford Chance | 81% | 42/52 |
| Bond Dickinson | 81% | 22/27 |
| Eversheds Sutherland | 80% | 44/55 |
| Herbert Smith Freehills | 80% | 28/35 |
| Hogan Lovells | 80% | 24/30 |
| Clyde & Co | 79% | 34/43 (one on FTC) |
| Mills & Reeve | 79% | 15/19 (one on FTC) |
| Simmons & Simmons | 78% | 21/27 |
| Shearman & Sterling | 75% | 12/16 |
| Pinsent Masons | 74% | 67/91 |
| Mayer Brown | 73% | 8/11 |
| Withers | 73% | 8/11 |
| Trowers & Hamlins | 70% | 7/10 |
| Berwin Leighton Paisner | 67% | 16/24 |
| Browne Jacobson | 67% | 6/9 |
| Freshfields | 66% | 27/41 |
| Dentons | 64% | 18/28 |
| Mishcon de Reya | 64% | 9/14 |
| Taylor Wessing | 62% | 16/26 |
| Kirkland & Ellis | 56% | 5/9 |
| Weil Gotshal | 50% | 5/10 |
| Stewarts Law | 25% | 1/4 |
*Fixed term contract
For all the latest commercial awareness info, and advance notification of Legal Cheek’s careers events, sign up to the Legal Cheek Hub.