Olswang has posted another 50% retention rate, its second such result in a year and the worst of the field for 2016 so far.

There were only two trainees in the media specialist's intake, but one opted to leave the firm and take a position elsewhere. The other has accepted an offer from Olswang's real estate team. The result follows a 50% score last Autumn, when five out of ten Olswang trainees left on qualification.



Following a number of poor retention results in recent years, Olswang started taking on fewer trainees and now offers 12 places annually. But that doesn't appear to have helped: its failure to find positions for half its NQs shows the firm still has issues with its recruitment and training programme.

Elsewhere, KWM has posted a pretty average 70%, having found jobs for 14 out of its 20 qualifying trainees. While at the top of the table, Hill Dickinson and Eversheds have both posted flawless 100% retention rates. Hill Dickinson is keeping two of its six NQs in Liverpool, two in Manchester and two in London. Eversheds is keeping three of its eight NQs in London, four in Birmingham and Cambridge and one in Paris in the firm's glamorous international arbitration practice.


At least Olswang has admitted its poor retention rate, unlike Simmons & Simmons. RollOnFriday caught the firm trying to hide its true figures last week and it is still refusing to come clean. According to the website Legal Business, an unfortunate spokeswoman for Simmons insisted, "it's not manipulation", because Simmons (unlike every other firm) only counts people who "go through the process". She declined to specify when Simmons deems trainees to have gone "through the process".