Clyde & Co and Berwin Leighton Paisner reveal trainee retention peformances

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By Thomas Connelly on

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

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