Eversheds and Irwin Mitchell reveal NQ retention drop

With a retention rate of 84 per cent, Eversheds is keeping 64 out of 76 qualifiers, a slight drop on its September 2011 qualifying round when the firm posted an 87 per cent retention rate keeping 33 out of 38 of its trainees.

In March 2012, the firm hit 100 per cent retention, holding onto all seven of its trainees.

Angus Macgregor, HR Director at Eversheds, said: “We congratulate our newly qualified lawyers who have shown both technical and commercial excellence. Our training contract is designed to extend the experience and skill sets of junior lawyers across multiple sectors and jurisdictions preparing them for the modern legal world.”

Meanwhile, Irwin Mitchell has kept 30 of its 40 September qualifiers, thereby achieving a 75 per cent retention.

That is a decline on its September 2011 rate when the firm kept 28 out of 33 trainees, giving it a retention rate of 85 per cent.

The news follows Taylor Wessing and Hogan Lovells revealing NQ retention rates for September 2012 of 86 per cent and 73 per cent respectively.

Of the top twenty firms, only Clyde & Co has yet to release their retention figures.