Firm keeps 16 of its 26 NQs, with two more on fixed term contracts
International heavyweight Norton Rose Fulbright has kept 18 of its 26 newly qualified lawyers (NQs). With two of those on fixed term contracts, this amounts to an autumn retention score of 62%.
The firm has revealed it made 18 offers to nine male and nine female final seat trainees; all accepted. NQs at the 59-office firm will enjoy a recently enhanced salary of £75,000, Norton Rose Fulbright having in July announced pay increases of £3,000. Trainee remuneration got a boost too, from £42,000 for first years to £44,000, and from £47,000 for second years to £48,000. Profit per equity partner (PEP) at the firm — whose plush London office is located just across from Tower Bridge — is £440,000.
This latest retention rate is quite the drop on its previous scores. In spring 2017, the global giant unveiled a solid 83% figure, while this time last year it was 85%.
It makes the City firm one of nine to reveal an autumn retention figure in the 60s. Berwin Leighton Paisner (67%), Browne Jacobson (67%), DWF (66%), Freshfields (66%), Squire Patton Boggs (65%), Dentons (64%), Mishcon de Reya (64%) and Taylor Wessing (62%) have all posted similar scores.
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 |
| Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton | 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 |
| Addleshaw Goddard | 81% | 38/47 |
| Bond Dickinson | 81% | 22/27 |
| Eversheds Sutherland | 80% | 44/55 |
| Herbert Smith Freehills | 80% | 28/35 |
| Hogan Lovells | 80% | 24/30 |
| HFW | 80% | 8/10 |
| Clyde & Co | 79% | 34/43 (one on FTC) |
| Mills & Reeve | 79% | 15/19 (one on FTC) |
| DLA Piper | 78% | 75/96 |
| Simmons & Simmons | 78% | 21/27 |
| Shearman & Sterling | 75% | 12/16 |
| Pinsent Masons | 74% | 67/91 |
| Mayer Brown | 73% | 8/11 |
| Withers | 73% | 8/11 |
| Charles Russell Speechlys | 71% | 17/24 |
| Trowers & Hamlins | 70% | 7/10 |
| Berwin Leighton Paisner | 67% | 16/24 |
| Browne Jacobson | 67% | 6/9 |
| DWF | 66% | 33/50 |
| Freshfields | 66% | 27/41 |
| Squire Patton Boggs | 65% | Not disclosed |
| Dentons | 64% | 18/28 |
| Mishcon de Reya | 64% | 9/14 |
| Norton Rose Fulbright | 62% | 16/26 (two on FTC) |
| Taylor Wessing | 62% | 16/26 |
| Kirkland & Ellis | 56% | 5/9 |
| Weil Gotshal | 50% | 5/10 |
| Stewarts Law | 25% | 1/4 |
*Fixed term contract
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