38 out of 41 trainees stay on
Allen & Overy (A&O) has today announced an autumn retention score of 93%.
Of the 41 final-seat trainees due to qualify in September, 38 applied for newly-qualified (NQ) positions at the firm. All 38 trainees were offered and accepted NQ roles. A spokesperson confirmed that none of the new associates will be on fixed-term contracts.
James Partridge, graduate recruitment partner at A&O, said:
“These are very positive numbers and I’d like to congratulate all of our September qualifiers.”
He added: “To be able to put forward a 100% offer rate in such an uncertain market is testament to the quality of our upcoming lawyers and demonstrates our commitment to continuing to invest in the future of legal excellence at A&O.”
A&O, which offers about 90 training contracts each year, did not disclose the departments or offices its new recruits will qualify into.
NQs can expect to earn £90,000, comprised of salary and sign-on bonus, after the magic circle firm opted to cut pay by 10% from a minimum of £100,000 last month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier this year, A&O posted a spring score of 81%, retaining 30 out of 37 trainees. It kept 39 out of 44, or 89%, trainees in the last autumn round.
A number of law firms have announced their autumn 2020 trainee retention results in the past month. Clifford Chance (CC) is so far the only other magic circler to reveal its score. CC will retain 36 out of 46, or 78%, of qualifying trainees.