Two rookies qualify into the firm’s offices in Dubai and Geneva
White & Case has posted a spring trainee solicitor retention score of 82%.
The global law firm confirmed 14 of its 17 UK trainees have been retained on permanent deals, with 12 joining its London office and two starting associate life in Dubai and Geneva. It made 15 offers.
The newly qualified (NQ) solicitors qualify into departments antitrust; commercial litigation; debt finance; financial restructuring and insolvency; intellectual property, international arbitration; and mergers & acquisitions.
Legal Cheek‘s 2021 Firms Most List shows the new recruits will start on a recently improved salary of £130,000, while trainees receive £50,000 in year one, rising to £55,000 in year two.
Partner Inigo Esteve, who heads the trainee solicitor programme in London, commented:
“The quality of our training programme, combined with a highly competitive salary and benefits package, positions White & Case as a destination firm for talented and ambitious trainee lawyers. The training equips our lawyers with the skills and experience to succeed in the global practices they join, preparing them to advise leading global clients on their most important, complex, cross-border matters.”
Last September White & Case recorded an autumn retention result of 88%, with 21 of its 24 NQs staying put (two on fixed-term deals).
Melissa Butler, White & Case office executive partner in London, added:
“As we mark 50 years in London, our long history of success in this market ensures that White & Case attracts and retains top legal talent at every level in the profession. Our trainees join a programme that has launched hundreds of successful legal careers and a firm where the business need for English law qualified lawyers in London and throughout our offices worldwide continues, despite the global coronavirus pandemic and other ongoing economic and political uncertainties.”
Earlier this week Legal Cheek reported that Stephenson Harwood had kept hold of eight of its ten soon-to-be associates — or 80%.