BLP promises to “bounce back” following retention rate fall

In its worst retention round since the start of the recession, the top 20 firm offered 14 places to its 22 trainees. All 14 offers were accepted.

That result is significantly down on the 80 per cent retention achieved in September 2012, which was itself a big drop from the 95 per cent retention achieved in September 2011.

A spokesperson for the firm said “It’s still a challenging market we are in. A few firms may have gone up [in terms of retention] but the majority have taken a bit of a dip. We need to respond to the needs of the business on a case-by-case basis.

“This result is unusual for us but we aim to keep it that way and will bounce back again,” the spokesperson added.

The results follow an 8 per cent turnover rise for BLP in 2011/12 from £228m to £246m, significant international expansion with the opening of two offices in Germany and one in Hong Kong and over 30 partner hires last year.