The last few major firms to announce their trainee retention figures limped over the line this week, with both Norton Rose and Herbert Smith announcing respectable results.

Norton Rose will be keeping 78% of its trainees, which is 18 of the 23. A spokeswoman for the firm said "our business continues to grow, allowing us to offer more positions than we did in the January qualifying round." RollOnFriday statisticians reviewed the data from January, and noted that the firm had retained, errr, 18 of its 23 January qualifiers. That's 78%. Snap. The anomaly can be explained by the single brave soul in this round who spurned an offer from NR, presumably having a berth elsewhere. Still, to claim the voluntary departure of a trainee as a positive development takes some pretty neat spinning from the firm.

Required reading for Norton Rose

Herbert Smith just pipped Norton Rose with a strong 80% retention rate. Forty six of the firm's big intake of 56 will be staying put in Exchange House. However Weil Gotshal & Manges which will be keeping seven of its ten trainees despite having offered all of them a job and 70% is a bit of a slip from its previously very good trainee retention rates. Ingrates.

Here are all the results from the retention round so far. If your firm is still missing, let us have the figures - anonymously - using this handy form.

Firm	Number of trainees	Number retained	Retention rate (retention rate March 2012)
Neves Solicitors LLP	2	2	100%
Kennedys	13	13	100%
Shoosmiths	16	16	100%
Burges Salmon	21	21	100% (86% Sept 2011)
Debevoise & Plimpton	6	6	100%
Farrers	10	10	100% (90% Sept 2011)
Howard Kennedy	4	4	100%
Jones Day	11	11	100% (100%)
Skadden	7	7	100%
Charles Russell	19	18	95%
Latham & Watkins	13	12	92%
Bird & Bird	12	11	92%
Travers Smith	18	16 (5 fixed term)	89% (61% permanent)
Freshfield	46	41	89%
Shearman & Sterling	8	7	87.5% (91.5% Sept 2011)
Slaughter and May	48	42	87.5% (90%)
Dickinson Dees	15	13	87% (36% Sept 2011)
Field Fisher Waterhouse	20	17	85%
CMS Cameron McKenna	31	26	84% (81%)
Ashurst	29	24	83% (78%)
SNR Denton	29	24	83% (60%)
RPC	15	12	80% (100% Sept 2011)
Herbert Smith	56	46	80%
Allen & Overy	58	46	79% (89%)
Dundas & Wilson	33	26	79%
Norton Rose	23	18	78%
Linklaters	65	51	78%
Clifford Chance	62	48	77% (76%)
Stephenson Harwood	8	6	75%
Pinsent Masons	74	54	73% (69% Sept 2011)
Weil Gotshal	10	7	70%
Nabarro	13	9	69%
White & Case	16	11	69% (94%)
Olswang	14	9	64% (54.5%)
SJ Berwin	34	19	56% (100%)
Clarke Willmott	11	6	55%
Maclay Murray Spens	30	16	53%
Orrick	6	3	50%
Mishcon de Reya	18	9	50% (86% Sept 2011)
MacRoberts	11	2	18%