96% result
Irwin Mitchell has released its annual trainee retention score. Of the 47 trainees to qualify this September, 45 will be kept on as newly qualified (NQ) solicitors, the national outfit has confirmed.
This puts Irwin Mitchell’s retention score at 96% — a notable increase on last year’s rate of 83%, which saw 49 out of 59 trainees stay on.
The commercial and personal injury law specialist, which offers around 45 training contracts annually, confirmed 15 NQs will be based in London, nine in Birmingham, seven in Sheffield, five in Manchester, with the rest spread across Leeds (4), Newcastle (2), Southampton (2) and Bristol (1). All retained NQs are on permanent deals.
According to Irwin Mitchell, the bulk of NQs will sit in its personal legal services, with 30 spread between personal injury, medical negligence, public law and court of protection. The remaining 15 will continue in the firm’s business legal services, whose departmental destinations include litigation, real estate, corporate and restructuring. Seventy-seven percent (35) of the firm’s new associates are female.
Marissa Sanders, head of early careers at Irwin Mitchell, said:
“This year’s newly qualified retention rate of 96% is an outstanding achievement reflecting both the calibre of our trainees and the training and support they receive in the business.”
Retention results aside, Legal Cheek‘s Firms Most List shows that newbies recruited to the outfit’s London office will start on a salary of £60,000. Pay packets are lower for those spread across the firm’s 13 regional offices, with base rates ranging from £36,500 to £41,500.
NQs kept on will continue to enjoy the firm’s quality of work, peer support and work-life balance — for which it scored A, A*, A* respectively in our Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey.