83% and 78%
Walker Morris and Watson Farley & Williams are the latest firms to go public with their autumn trainee retention scores.
Walker Morris is keeping 15 of its 18 final-seat trainees, resulting in an autumn retention rate of 83%. The new solicitors will qualify into a spread of practice areas including construction, corporate, commercial, employment, infrastructure/energy, pensions, competition, IP, disputes, and sport.
Legal Cheek’s Firms Most List 2023 shows that the 20 first-year trainees that the firm takes on each year year earn £28,000, before stepping up to £31,000 in their second year. NQ pay currently sits at £60,000.
At Watson Farley & Williams, 14 of the 18 qualifying trainees will be kept on, after the firm received 16 applications for positions. This gives the firm a retention score of 78%.
Four NQs are going into assets & structured finance; three into energy & projects; three into dispute resolution; two into corporate; one into real estate and one into regulatory & public (all in the firm’s London office).
WFW offers 18 training contracts every year. Rookies in the London office can expect their first year pay to rise by £3,000 to £50,000, then up to a current NQ rate of £90,000 post-qualification.
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