Slaughter and May has announced it is retaining 89% of its trainees qualifying this September.

One of the 36 qualifiers did not put themselves forward for a job at the firm, which made offers to 34 of the 35 other trainees. 32 accepted, yielding a decent 89% retention rate. Slaughters posted the same rate last autumn, when it kept on 33 out of 37 qualifiers. This spring it retained 95%, and a spokesman said the firm was "very pleased" with "this continued strong showing which bodes well for the long-term future of the firm”. Since it doesn't really do laterals, home-grown talent is particularly important for Slaughters, at least until the robots are ready.

Truly they are now wise in the way of form IN01 plus continuation pages

Slaughters is the last of the Magic Circle to unveil its figures, and its result means that all five of the UK's City elite performed well or, in the case of Freshfields, superbly when it came to hanging on to staff this year, hitting between 82% and 95%. 



Across the Magic Circle, the retention rate this year was 87%, only slightly down on last years's 89%. However, the MC employed 395 of 454 qualifying trainees in 2016, down from 413 of 466 in 2015. Only Linklaters retained more trainees this year (one) than last, and students drawing comfort from solid retention stats posted by the large recruiters should note that cohort sizes look set to continue shrinking.

In other retention news, Orrick is still a total disaster.