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Job satisfaction How would you rate your overall job satisfaction?

Lex 100 winners 1 Farrer & Co 9.10

2 Harbottle & Lewis LLP 9.00 Analysis

= McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP 9.00 This important category is topped this year by Farrer & Co in what’s = Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 9.00 been a highly impressive overall performance – the firm appears in every single one of our Lex 100 5 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP 8.75 Winners tables, often near the top, the first firm to do so. So why is this 6 Covington & Burling LLP 8.71 mid-sized firm so popular with trainees? It certainly sounds a fun place 7 Latham & Watkins 8.67 to work and offers six seats in a wide variety of practice areas. There’s a strong 8 Ashfords 8.63 bond between current trainees, who praise the ‘great people and great mix of work’, ‘unique atmosphere’ and ‘sheer breadth of training = Stephens & Scown 8.63 opportunities’. Media boutique Harbottle & Lewis comes next. Trainees here feel they have ‘considerably 10 8.60 better quality work than peers, better experience and more exposure’. Then, as last year, there’s a strong showing = Shoosmiths 8.60 by five US firms: McDermott Will & Emery, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Cleary Gottlieb, Covington & 12 LLP 8.58 Burling and Latham & Watkins. These firms have not been offering training contracts for that long in London and all have 13 Birketts 8.50 limited intakes. None of them feature in the work/life balance or = Capsticks 8.50 stress levels tables (US firms have exacting expectations and there are plenty of stories of late nights), but they have a good showing = Hodge Jones & Allen 8.50 in the quality of work and client contact tables. At Skadden ‘we have been exposed to some fascinating deals and given levels of = Mills & Reeve LLP 8.50 responsibility that other trainees can only dream of’, boasts one trainee. A Covington trainee rates the ‘early exposure to the more = Walker Morris 8.50 difficult end of practising as a ’, while Latham & Watkins is 18 Kendall Freeman 8.46 ‘progressive, friendly and offers a rich variety of work’. Two South West firms also feature in the top ten – Ashfords and Stephens & Scown. The 19 Lester Aldridge LLP 8.43 latter is a new entrant to The Lex 100; a trainee there experiences ‘less stress and pressure than other firms. I think I have more responsibility and = Pannone LLP 8.43 there’s less of a negative, competitive atmosphere’. At Ashfords, ‘top to bottom, everyone is approachable, helpful and friendly’. The good spread of London, regional and international practices in this table demonstrates that job satisfaction is a quality not limited to any particular type of firm.

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Firm living up to expectations How far has the firm lived up to your expectations?

Lex 100 winners 1 Harbottle & Lewis LLP 9.67 2 Farrer & Co 9.30 Analysis 3 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP 9.25 You’ve read the brochures, done some vac schemes, been to 4 Covington & Burling LLP 9.00 interviews and secured a . So far so good, but now = McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP 9.00 you’ve started work is the firm delivering what you expected? = Shadbolt & Co LLP 9.00 Trainees at media powerhouse Harbottle & Lewis certainly think so; = Thomas Eggar LLP 9.00 one ‘can’t think of anything bad’ to say, while another feels that the firm is living up to promises as ‘the best media = Walker Morris 9.00 in the UK’. Farrer & Co isn’t far behind; one trainee here comments ‘I did a vac scheme and = Wedlake Bell 9.00 loved it. It’s even better now I’ve got here and am part of the firm’. Another one targeted the firm 10 LLP 8.98 ‘because I thought (and still think) that it’s simply unique’. In third and fourth places come US firms Cleary 11 Shoosmiths 8.93 Gottlieb, McDermott Will & Emery and Covington & Burling, a strong showing, as in the job satisfaction 12 Shearman & Sterling LLP 8.92 category. At Clearys, one trainee attracted by ‘pay, international scope, flexibility of the practice areas, the early 13 Jones Day 8.88 responsibility and the congeniality’ hasn’t been disappointed. It’s a similar story at Covington & Burling; here one trainee found 14 Mills & Reeve LLP 8.85 everyone friendly and approachable at interview, and having started work commends the collegiate culture. Tied with the US 15 Bircham Dyson Bell LLP 8.83 firms are Walker Morris, Thomas Eggar, Wedlake Bell and 16 LLP 8.81 Shadbolt & Co. At Leeds stalwart Walker Morris one trainee ‘did the vac scheme and really enjoyed it’, whilst working here has meant 17 Forbes 8.75 ‘better exposure to clients and quality of work than at other in Leeds’ for another. At the other end of the UK, South East giant = Hodge Jones & Allen 8.75 Thomas Eggar offers training which is ‘absolutely outstanding’. 19 8.71 Reigate-based Shadbolt & Co has certainly delivered on promises for one trainee: ‘I believed that the firm would offer high-class work in a 20 McGrigors LLP 8.68 good working environment; I’m pleased to say that this is how it’s turned out to be’. At London’s Wedlake Bell, size matters for one trainee: ‘its medium size can mean it loses out on bigger deals. However, as a trainee, I’ve chosen the firm for the very reason of its size’; being part of a more limited intake here means ‘excellent training which has a lot to do with the size of the firm’.

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Quality of work How would you rate the quality of work you are given?

Lex 100 winners 1 Harbottle & Lewis LLP 9.33 2 Hodge Jones & Allen 9.25 Analysis 3 Birketts 9.17 Have you heard stories of trainees being chained to the photocopier 4 Forbes 9.00 or stuck in windowless data rooms for days on end? While most = Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 9.00 trainees, irrespective of the size or location of firm, will experience some = Walker Morris 9.00 routine and, dare we say, humdrum work from time to time, the firms in 7 Covington & Burling LLP 8.86 this table stand out for giving their trainees meaty work to get their teeth into 8 Thomas Eggar LLP 8.80 from the start. As with living up to expectations, media boutique Harbottle & 9 Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP 8.75 Lewis is top of the tree. Trainees here commend the variety of both interesting clients and work – a glance at the client list and you’ll know why (Mr and 10 Shoosmiths 8.73 Mrs Beckham are just one example). In second place is a new entrant to The Lex 100, Hodge Jones & Allen. 11 Pannone LLP 8.71 Primarily a legal aid firm, trainees here report hands-on experience from day one: ‘I feel like I work on cases in a lot 12 Farrer & Co 8.70 more depth than some of my peers’. Whether it’s obtaining an 13 Ince & Co 8.67 emergency injunction to prevent a client being made homeless or taking a landmark miscarriage of justice case to the House of = Latham & Watkins 8.67 Lords, you need a solid commitment to social justice to be at home here. Ipswich firm Birketts gives trainees the responsibility of 15 Ashfords 8.63 running their own cases, plus plenty of high-calibre commercial work; ‘you cannot buy experience like this firm gives you’ says one 16 Jones Day 8.62 happy trainee. Three firms are tied in fourth place: Walker Morris, Forbes and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Leeds firm = Shearman & Sterling LLP 8.62 Walker Morris offers plenty of experience of life at the coal face: ‘I was left to deal with a banking completion very early on in my first seat’ 18 Russell-Cooke LLP 8.60 says one. Blackburn’s Forbes offers a good breadth of work – ‘life does 19 Speechly Bircham LLP 8.58 not consist solely of sifting through reams of documentation!’ – and the mix of commercial and private client work is popular. Covington & Burling, 20 Kendall Freeman 8.54 Thomas Eggar, Cadwalader, Wickerhsam & Taft and Shoosmiths aren’t too far behind. Cadwalader trainees say they get ‘a lot more responsibility and very little photocopying’. Another thinks that ‘due to the size of the firm, the quality of work you are given is great’. And it’s true that none of the firms in this table have trainee intakes of more than 40, with most considerably less than that.

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Client contact How would you rate your amount of client contact?

Lex 100 winners 1 Hodge Jones & Allen 9.75 2 Forbes 9.25 Analysis 3 Fisher Meredith 9.00 For many trainees, the moment when they meet a walking, talking = Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 9.00 client is the moment they realise that this is for real and not an LPC 5 Russell-Cooke LLP 8.80 interview exercise. And client contact, or more often the lack of it, is one of 6 Thomas Eggar LLP 8.60 the most common themes running throughout our feedback. While trying 7 8.57 not to generalise too much, it is often the larger City/commercial practices which tend 8 Farrer & Co 8.50 to fall down here. With bigger trainee intakes to manage, higher value deals and more high- 9 DMH Stallard 8.44 profile work, it seems that hard-won clients are jealously guarded. However, trainees have to start somewhere, so hats off to the firms in this table. In top 10 Pannone LLP 8.33 place with an exceptional score is London legal aid 11 Lester Aldridge LLP 8.29 practice Hodge Jones & Allen. With a client base ranging from the Hickeys (wrongly convicted of the murder of 12 Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP 8.25 newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater) to members of So Solid Crew, life is certainly interesting and varied here. Trainees report 13 Penningtons Solicitors LLP 8.23 fantastic levels of ‘hands-on experience on case work’. Blackburn’s Forbes isn’t far behind and with its balance of commercial and 14 Andrew M Jackson 8.21 private client work, trainees have plenty of opportunities to meet clients. Tied in third place are US giant and corporate-focused 15 asb law 8.20 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Fisher Meredith, well known for its civil liberties, human rights and crime practice. A trainee 16 Jones Day 8.18 at the latter warns ‘most legal aid firms expect their trainees to hit the ground running and it’s no different here’. Expect to be running your 17 Birketts 8.17 own files and meeting clients virtually from day one. At Skadden Arps 18 Charles Russell LLP 8.16 one trainee says ‘the quality of work, level of responsibility and client contact far exceed that of my peers at leading City firms (although they 19 Ashfords 8.13 have weekends off)’. But client contact needn’t mean sacrificing work/life balance. Farrer & Co is rated for client contact as well as achieving top 20 8.09 scores for work/life balance and manageable stress levels. One trainee singles out the people – ‘both who I work with and the clients’. Welsh firm Hugh James offers a great spread of work and client interaction ranging from ‘seeing clients for free legal advice in the branch offices’ to ‘dealing with a particularly difficult client’. Which just goes to show that client contact can be a double-edged sword.

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Stress levels How stressful do you find your job/training contract? (high score = low stress)

Lex 100 winners 1 Farrer & Co 7.80 2 Holman Fenwick & Willan 7.50 Analysis

3 LLP 7.45 No one entering the legal profession can honestly expect to 4 Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP 7.44 escape occasional stress levels, whether caused by time pressure, 5 B P Collins 7.33 clients, make-or-break deals or stomach-churning moments when you 6 Kennedys 7.15 think you’ve made a mistake. So accepting some stress as a given is a 7 K&L Gates 7.13 good start. But when you’re a trainee you hope that the balance doesn’t swing too 8 DMH Stallard 7.11 far the wrong way, which sadly in many large commercial/City firms it clearly does. So 9 Howes Percival LLP 7.10 well done to third-placed City firm Denton Wilde Sapte for bucking this trend. Trainees here say there’s no ‘fear culture’ and supervisors and fee-earners = Prettys 7.10 are described as very approachable. A clear theme is that work can be challenging but, as long as there’s adequate 11 Speechly Bircham LLP 7.08 support, trainees feel they can cope with it – things start getting stressful when trainees feel ‘dumped on’ with too 12 McGrigors LLP 7.07 much work, tight deadlines and no one to turn to. In top place is Farrer & Co where, as with DWS, colleagues are commended 13 White & Case LLP 7.06 for being not only sociable but supportive too. Shipping firm 14 asb law 7.00 Holman Fenwick & Willan is in second place: ‘we have an extremely supportive HR partner, who is there to look after us and = Browne Jacobson LLP 7.00 help us should we ever need it’ says one trainee. Birmingham’s Anthony Collins made an impact on one trainee for ‘not carrying the = Dundas & Wilson LLP 7.00 corporate lifestyle of other firms of this size’. Another says they are ‘much less stressed – there’s more help and involvement from = Harbottle & Lewis LLP 7.00 supervisors and other solicitors’. B P Collins is another mid-sized firm based outside London which scores well; trainees here report ‘a lot less = Payne Hicks Beach 7.00 stress’ and that ‘nearly all fee-earners and even partners are more than happy to spend time explaining things’. Proving that London isn’t 19 Mills & Reeve LLP 6.95 synonymous with stress, Kennedys and K&L Gates are both mid-sized City players, the latter with significant transatlantic connections. At Kennedys, 20 DWF 6.91 trainees report that whilst they ‘hit the ground running’, work is not too stressful and usually ‘well supervised’. The fact that they get to leave work on time every day also helps. Meanwhile at K&L Gates one trainee says ‘a work/life balance is encouraged and this means a lot less stress.’ Hurray to that.

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Work/life balance How happy are you with your work/life balance?

Lex 100 winners 1 Ashfords 9.63 2 asb law 9.60 Analysis 3 Farrer & Co 9.50 A good work/life balance is a state most of us are keen to achieve = Lupton Fawcett LLP 9.50 throughout our working lives. There are some firms, however, where such 5 Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP 9.44 a thing simply does not exist, with the expectation that work comes first 6 Cripps Harries Hall LLP 9.36 no matter what. So well done to the firms in this table for realising that all = Foot Anstey 9.36 work and no play makes a very dull lawyer. Once again, and big City firms are conspicuous by their absence, 8 Weightmans LLP 9.13 with the exception of large national firm Beachcroft, which is clearly keeping its spread of 9 Browne Jacobson LLP 9.11 trainees happy in this respect. Generally, it is the regional firms and smaller London firms which perform 10 Harbottle & Lewis LLP 9.00 well in this category, and this year is no exception. South West practice Ashfords tops the table, and trainees here = Kennedys 9.00 praise their firm for ‘actively encouraging’ a varied life outside work. Crawley-based asb law has offices throughout the South = Thomas Eggar LLP 9.00 East and comes a close second. It also performs well for providing low stress levels and, interestingly, features in the ‘client 13 Clyde & Co 8.92 contact’ table, which suggests that getting involved with clients at an early stage can still go hand-in-hand with an ‘excellent’ work/life 14 DWF 8.91 balance. A handful of other Southern regional firms perform well here – Cripps Harries Hall, Foot Anstey, Thomas Eggar, Lester 15 Bristows 8.90 Aldridge and Boyes Turner – and what all these firms appear to have in common is a ‘non-macho’ approach to work, with no hanging 16 Lester Aldridge LLP 8.86 around ‘to be seen’ for these trainees; if there’s no work to do they leave at 5.30pm. Mid-sized practice Farrer & Co leads the field in terms 17 Beachcroft LLP 8.80 of London firms offering the elusive work/life balance. In fact, the firm = Boyes Turner 8.80 prides itself on its who believe their rich and varied lives outside the office actively benefit their work. Leeds firm Lupton Fawcett features = Prettys 8.80 in the ‘social life’ and ‘friendliness’ tables as well as this one, reflecting the nature of a firm where ‘people are committed to work and to having a good 20 Fisher Meredith 8.79 time outside work as well’, while trainees at Birmingham-based Anthony Collins are happy to be ‘doing something worthwhile for the community’, but equally happy that they can leave at 5.15pm. Other regional firms performing well here include Liverpool practice Weightmans and Nottingham’s Browne Jacobson.

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Friendliness of the firm How would you rate the friendliness of the firm?

Lex 100 winners 1 Farrer & Co 9.90 2 Walker Morris 9.83 Analysis

3 Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP 9.75 Once again, we are happy to report that ‘friendliness’ is the Lex 100 = Lupton Fawcett LLP 9.75 category with the highest average scores overall. The work may be 5 Bristows 9.70 tough, the hours long and the clients demanding, but most trainees gave 6 DMH Stallard 9.67 highly positive feedback concerning the friendliness of their colleagues, = Harbottle & Lewis LLP 9.67 regardless of firm size, type or location. The high-performing mid-sized London firm = Latham & Watkins 9.67 Farrer & Co tops the table once again – ‘there is a great atmosphere throughout the = Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 9.67 firm. It is quite close-knit and everyone knows everyone.’ Two Northern firms next. Walker Morris and Lupton Fawcett battle it out for the ‘friendliest 10 Morgan Cole 9.64 firm in Leeds’ title, with the former also topping the ‘social life’ table, while trainees at the latter believe the 11 Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP 9.56 firm’s manageable size contributes to the great atmosphere. Cadwalader is the first of an impressive five US firms in this 12 Ashfords 9.50 category, suggesting that a tough, commercial working environment can still be a friendly one – or maybe it’s just those = Forsters LLP 9.50 high salaries casting a rose-tinted glow over everyone! Interestingly, two specialist London practices feature next. IP 14 Denton Wilde Sapte LLP 9.45 specialist Bristows receives high praise from its trainees for ‘the friendly, intelligent people from a wide range of backgrounds’ and 15 Jones Day 9.44 for the wonderful atmosphere where ‘the receptionist knows your name and asks you how your weekend was’. While at media firm 16 Burges Salmon LLP 9.43 Harbottle & Lewis, despite the slightly limited social life (‘with only 17 Shearman & Sterling LLP 9.38 four trainees you don’t get constant socialising’), it is ‘the welcoming, open-door atmosphere’ which gives the firm its friendly feel. At 18 McGrigors LLP 9.36 Brighton-based DMH Stallard, trainees praise the ‘forward-thinking approach of the management, particularly the managing partner’ which 19 Shadbolt & Co LLP 9.33 results in the firm’s ‘friendly, exciting and professional’ atmosphere. Proving = Shoosmiths 9.33 that location is no barrier when it comes to friendliness, the spread of firms performing well here ranges from other Southern practices such as Ashfords and Burges Salmon to Welsh firm Morgan Cole, to ’s McGrigors, to the Midlands where Anthony Collins and Shoosmiths score well, and back to London with Denton Wilde Sapte flying the flag for the slightly larger firms in this category.

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Social life How good is your firm’s social life?

Lex 100 winners 1 Walker Morris 9.67 2 Farrer & Co 9.50 Analysis 3 Jones Day 9.21 The rivalry between Leeds firms Walker Morris and Lupton 4 Pannone LLP 9.14 Fawcett rolls over from friendliness into social life. At Walker Morris 5 Browne Jacobson LLP 9.05 ‘no door is ever closed and trainees and fee-earners are encouraged to 6 Lester Aldridge LLP 9.00 socialise together with end of month drinks and numerous other socials’. = Lupton Fawcett LLP 9.00 Lupton Fawcett’s location on Greek Street in Leeds is great for socialising and 8 Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP 8.75 ‘leaves you open to a lot of temptation’, apparently! The people here are ‘committed = McGrigors LLP 8.75 to work and to having a good time outside work as well’. Staying North, it is interesting to see Newcastle firm, Ward Hadaway, make an appearance = Wedlake Bell 8.75 in this table – trainees here are impressed by the range 11 Wragge & Co LLP 8.72 of ‘social activities’. firm Pannone is renowned not only for its cream cakes, but for its ‘social culture’: ‘the 12 Denton Wilde Sapte LLP 8.70 firm’s social committee regularly organises events which are a great way to meet people from other departments in the firm’. 13 Burges Salmon LLP 8.63 Birmingham’s Wragge & Co is a regular in this table with social activities involving ‘podiums’ and an ‘awesome’ Christmas party, 14 Travers Smith 8.61 while Nottingham-based Browne Jacobson has a ‘work hard/play hard ethic’ and the people ‘certainly know how to have a good 15 Ward Hadaway 8.55 time’. Unsurprisingly, London firms fare well in this category, although it is not necessarily the ones with huge trainee intakes and 16 8.52 well-organised social activities which receive the highest scores. 17 Nabarro 8.47 Travers Smith trainees praise their firm for its ‘sociable, collegiate atmosphere’, and say ‘the fantastic people make the tough times 18 Bristows 8.40 bearable’. At Olswang they enjoy socialising with their ‘interesting and quirky’ colleagues and at Wedlake Bell ‘the social interaction and 19 Harbottle & Lewis LLP 8.33 support from partners is very good’. While in London, we mustn’t forget US firm Jones Day which scores highly here for the third year running – 20 Charles Russell LLP 8.32 trainees praise not only the ‘amazing work’ but also the ‘social side which is really excellent’. The atmosphere in the office is great too – ‘there is a lot of banter and everyone has a good sense of humour’. We’re always pleased to see that hard work and a great social life are not mutually exclusive. In fact the work hard/play hard firms are often some of the highest achievers.

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Vacation schemes If you did a vacation scheme with your firm, how would you rate it?

Lex 100 winners 1 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP 10.00 2 Farrer & Co 9.89 Analysis 3 Hugh James 9.75 Vacation schemes are becoming 4 Lester Aldridge LLP 9.33 increasingly important for both law firms and candidates. Firms use them to cherry-pick the best = Olswang 9.33 candidates and must then sell themselves well if they want the = Wedlake Bell 9.33 cream of the crop to choose them for their training contract. The conversion 7 Wragge & Co LLP 9.31 rate of vac scheme students to trainees is a big deal for many firms, with some 8 Nabarro 9.30 proud to achieve conversion rates of up to 90% (ie 90% of current trainees did a vac 9 Burges Salmon LLP 9.24 scheme with the firm, were offered a job, and, 10 Baker & McKenzie LLP 9.18 most importantly, chose to take it). Vac schemes are also key for candidates to gain an insight into = Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 9.18 different types of practice, and provide a helpful few weeks to make a good impression. Like last year, the firm 12 Mills & Reeve LLP 9.11 at the top of the table scored a perfect ten for its vac scheme. Trainees at US practice Cleary Gottlieb couldn’t 13 Ashfords 9.00 speak highly enough of their vac scheme experiences where they received ‘interesting and challenging work’ and got a = Ashurst 9.00 ‘good vibe about the ethos’ and the ‘culture of congeniality’. In = Clarion Solicitors 9.00 general, London firms performed very well in this category with over half of the winners based in the capital. At Farrer & Co, = Kendall Freeman 9.00 trainees ‘loved the vac scheme’ which gave them a sense of the firm’s ‘distinctive identity’; at Olswang, one trainee was ‘bowled = 9.00 over by my experience on the vacation scheme’, while at Nabarro = Shadbolt & Co LLP 9.00 they felt the scheme was ‘professionally run’. Welsh firm Hugh James receives a very high score in this category, with trainees = Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher praising the interesting spread of work and the friendly people they met. Bournemouth-based Lester Aldridge (‘great hands-on vac scheme & Flom (UK) LLP 9.00 experience’) and Birmingham powerhouse Wragge & Co (‘after attending the vacation scheme, it was obvious that the firm’s reputation = Teacher Stern Selby 9.00 for having training of the highest quality was true’) are examples of two regional firms very different in style but still providing what it takes to please a vacation scheme student. And what does it take? Most importantly, it seems students want to be kept busy and involved, and to experience a range of interesting work. For further information, see our article on Vacation Schemes on page 441.

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Confident of being kept on? How confident are you that you will be kept on at the end of your training contract?

Lex 100 winners 1 Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP 9.75 2 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 9.33 Analysis 3 Foot Anstey 9.29 The million dollar question: will there be a job for you at the end of 4 Walker Morris 9.17 your two years’ hard slog? Once again, scores in this category vary 5 Shearman & Sterling LLP 9.15 dramatically between firms. It is an emotive area and we received many 6 Wragge & Co LLP 9.00 complaints about the ‘uncertainty’ and ‘lack of transparency’ surrounding the 7 White & Case LLP 8.88 qualification and job offer process. The issue is twofold: firstly, will there be a job 8 Debevoise & Plimpton LLP 8.80 for you at all?; and secondly, if you are offered a job, will it be in the department of 9 Burges Salmon LLP 8.75 your choice? Many trainees voiced concerns that although their firms’ published retention rates are high, getting a job in your first-choice department is 10 8.72 certainly not guaranteed, with a significant number of 11 8.71 trainees every year having to leave their firms to pursue their chosen practice area. This can be a particular issue for small to 12 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 8.70 medium-sized firms with one or two popular departments, where competition for these jobs is intense. It can also affect 13 8.63 larger City firms where the focus is on corporate/ finance, with sometimes limited options outside these areas. But for some lucky 14 Farrer & Co 8.60 trainees, the offer of a job on qualification seems almost a certainty. US firms, in particular, perform exceptionally well in this category, = Trowers & Hamlins 8.60 with Cadwalader at the top of the pile and four others in the top ten. Also in abundance here are Magic Circle firms with Slaughter 16 Ashfords 8.50 and May, Clifford Chance and Freshfields receiving high scores. The = Stephens & Scown 8.50 confidence shown by trainees in these firms boils down to a number of issues: the firm’s past record on retention; the prevailing economic 18 Withers LLP 8.46 climate; how well your firm has performed over the past year; and 19 Travers Smith 8.45 indications given to individuals in appraisals. In addition to the US and Magic Circle firms, there is a large proportion of other high-achieving firms 20 Ashurst 8.35 here (both London and regional), for example, mid-sized corporate superstars Macfarlanes and Travers Smith; top ten City firm Ashurst; regional = Mills & Reeve LLP 8.35 leaders Walker Morris (Leeds), Wragge & Co (Birmingham), Burges Salmon (Bristol) and Mills & Reeve (Cambridge). This suggests that ‘confidence of being kept on’ could have as much to do with the robust, self-confident attitude associated with these firms (and their trainees) as it has to do with the reality of retention rates.

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