Herbert Smith offers £10k to trainees to defer

Herbert Smith has asked a second round of incoming trainees to defer the start of their training contracts.

Herbert Smith has contacted trainees due to join in September 2010 and March 2011 asking for volunteers to defer for six months, offering £10,000 as an incentive.

The firm said the decision was made in an attempt to balance out the intakes, as it had already asked a number of trainees due to start in September 2009 to defer until March 2010 - at that time offering an incentive of £7,000.

Last year 17 future trainees volunteered but Herbert Smith said it hopes to see more volunteers this time round. It currently has 70 trainees due to start in September and 30 in March.

The news comes after Hammonds also asked a number of its 2010 trainees to defer. The national firm asked 17 of the 31 trainees due to start in September 2010 to defer for 12 months. It is offering a financial incentive but would not go into any details.

Leading UK firms are in the process of unveiling trainee retention rates for March 2010 at the moment. Denton Wilde Sapte has opted to retain just one of the seven trainees due to qualify in March as a result of the poor economic conditions, while other firms to have announced their March 2010 retention rates include Linklaters.

Linklaters is to retain 76% of its March qualifiers, keeping on 47 of the 62 applying for a role. Allen & Overy found jobs for 87% of its qualifying intake, marking an increase on its projected retention rate of 70%.

Herbert Smith on the Legal Week Wiki