City law firms post retention rates

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Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP, Irwin Mitchell LLP and Dentons have all announced high autumn retention rates, for both their trainee and solicitor apprenticeship cohorts.  

Eversheds announced a retention rate of 76%, with 32 out of 42 qualifying trainees committing their futures to the firm. This brings the firm’s overall annual retention rate to 79%. 

The retention score follows the firm’s decision to increase newly qualified (NQ) London salaries from £95,000 to £100,000 and NQ regional rates from £62,000 to £65,500. Eversheds offered 33 NQ roles to its cohort, only one declined the place as they’d accepted an offer elsewhere. Of the nine trainees not offered a place, eight submitted unsuccessful applications and one chose not to apply. The firm’s third cohort of legal apprentices are also among the number qualifying, with three joining the firm’s practice teams. 

The new associates will be based across the firm’s UK offices in the company and commercial, dispute resolution, employment and pensions, and real estate practice groups. The firm’s diversity statistics show that 75% of the recent NQ UK cohort are women and 28% are from a minority ethnic background. Chief people officer at Eversheds, Lorraine Kilborn, commented: “We’re immensely proud to attract talent from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and our lawyers continue to support a strong pipeline of exceptional trainees and apprentices on their route to becoming qualified lawyers.” 

Meanwhile, Irwin Mitchell retained 27 of its 32 qualifying trainees, scoring a retention rate of 84%. The firm will be paying its London-based NQs between £58,000 and £76,000, while those in the regions will receive between £44,000 and £55,000, dependent on practice area. The firm stated that NQs will join a range of practice areas, including business services, personal injury, human rights, family law and estate disputes. 

Head of early careers at Irwin Mitchell, Marissa Sanders, said: “Our trainees represent an integral part of our early careers strategy and many of our partners began their legal careers as trainees at Irwin Mitchell. We look forward to seeing our latest trainees following in their footsteps and wish them every success in their future careers.”  

Dentons retained 78% of trainees and solicitor apprentices, who will be based in London, Milton Keynes, Scotland and the Middle East. CEO Paul Jarvis said: "I would like to congratulate this year's cohort of newly qualified solicitors who have shown themselves to be valuable members of the Dentons team, with great potential.” 

Read this Oracle to discover more about the differences between a training contract and graduate solicitor apprenticeship.