Orrick has announced that it will not retain any of its qualifying trainees this September.
 
RollOnFriday has learnt that there are five individuals in Orrick's lost intake. They are a casualty of the firm's misplaced expectations of growth in London, and the doubling in size of its trainee intake. Training principal Simon Cockshutt has recently admitted the move was "a little ambitious".

Orrick's NQ party in full swing

It is unclear how the grad rec team are going to keep a straight face in the future, as they try to sell the firm at careers fairs with guff like "Once you join, we want you to stay and build your career here". Although to be fair other advice on their website that their trainees need to be "self sufficient" with "a sense of humour" remains accurate.

In an attempt to fudge the figures a spokeswoman told RollOnFriday that the retention rate was actually 25%, because two out of three Spring qualifiers were retained and "we do not distinguish between our March and August qualifiers". Well everyone else does, so it's 0% this time round.

Dundas & Wilson was also slippery, refusing to divulge how many trainees it had in its intake and saying only that 21 trainees had applied for NQ jobs and 14 were accepted.

Meanwhile Manches also performed very poorly. The firm is keeping on just two out of ten trainees, a lowly 20%. A spokesman said it was down to the firm's "current business requirements" (ie: there isn't much business).

However shipping specialist Holman Fenwick Willan has posted a perfect 100% score. It is keeping all 15 of its trainees, who will now be permitted to subsist on grog and dress as Jack Sparrow to the office. Close behind is Bird & Bird, which is retaining an impressive 15 out of its 16 trainees (94%). And Norton Rose Fulbright, announcing its first retention figures since its US merger, is not only retaining 24 out of 26 trainees (92%), but raising NQ pay from £61.5k to £63k.

Here are the updated stats:

Firm	Total trainees	Trainees retained	Retention score Sept 2013
Holman Fenwick Willan	15	15	100%
Sidley Austin	9	9	100%
Osborne Clarke	8	8	100%
Bird & Bird	16	15	94%
Norton Rose Fulbright	26	24	92%
Slaughter and May	51	46	90%
Herbert Smith Freehills	34	30	88%
Linklaters	54	47	87%
BLP	21	18	86%
Mischon de Reya	7	6	86%
Trowers & Hamlins	7	6	86%
Mills & Reeve	20	17	85%
Shearman & Sterling	13	11	85%
Freshfields	48	39	83%
Nabarro	18	15	83%
Jones Day	11	9	82%
Clifford Chance	60	51	80%
Ashurst	30	24	80%
Stephenson Harwood	10	8	80%
White & Case	14	11	79%
Field Fisher Waterhouse	17	12*	76% sort of*
SJ Berwin	19	14	74%
DLA	77	56	73%
Taylor Wessing	23	16	70%
Hogan Lovells	36	25	69% sort of**
Ince & Co	15	10	67%
Dundas & Wilson	At least 21	14	Less than 67%
Shoosmiths	22	9	41%
Manches	10	2	20%
Orrick	5	0	0%

*5 of FFW's NQs have been put on 12 month contracts.
**2 of HogLove's NQs have been put on 12 month contracts.

If you know your firm's retention figures, send them in anonymously.