Two NQs on fixed term contracts
Hogan Lovells has retained 14 of its 21 final seat trainees qualifying this spring, it has confirmed.
The global law firm revealed it made 16 offers with 14 rookies accepting positions at the firm. All 21 NQs applied for roles. Two of those staying on are on fixed-term contracts, handing HL a spring retention score of 67% or 57% depending on how you read the numbers.
Six NQs join corporate & finance, five qualifying into litigation, arbitration and employment and the final three will start lawyer life in global regulatory and IP.
The result follows the firm’s autumn 2025 score which saw it retain 16 of its 24 final seat trainees, including one on a fixed-term contract.
Late last year, Hogan Lovells confirmed its intention to merge with US law firm Cadwalader in a move that would create the largest law firm combination in history and one of the biggest players in the global legal market. The tie-up remains subject to a partner vote.
Getting binned on qualification is pretty harsh as it can be quite hard to find a new job particularly as you probably do not have much proper experience from four six month seats. In big firms and big departments trainees may have done very little proper legal work. So interviews can be tough.
“I did lots of photocopying and tables of documents and some legal research…They thought I was rubbish, but that’s not true, I was only a little bit rubbish…”
Giving out fixed term roles is actually quite nice in my opinion as at least that person will gain some proper experience which they can use to find another job should the contract not be renewed.
I think firms should give all trainees that want it a 6-12 month contract. I suspect the reason they do not is that it will eat into their profits.
Also a lot of those who secure a qualification role will in one way or another be binned as the years go by. So many senior partners may say that binning trainees is baked into the business model.