Addleshaw Goddard and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) have become the latest firms to announce retention rates for their March qualifying trainees, with the latter seeing a significant drop on the equivalent round last year.

BLP has offered 14 of its 22 newly-qualified trainees (NQs) a position at the firm. All have accepted, giving it a retention rate of 64%.

That figure is down the 80% of trainees retained in autumn 2012, and a further decrease on the 88% retention rate this time last year.

A spokesperson for the firm commented: "We continue to operate in a challenging market. Our retention rate and that of the majority of the sector reflects this.

"We base our intake on a number of factors and hire in line with our anticipated business needs. Our aim is to retain as many people as we can but we aren't solely driven by the need to have high retention rates."

Elsewhere, Addleshaws this week posted a 100% retention rate after all five of its NQs accepted a job at the firm. The news comes after the firm retained 84% of trainees in September 2012, when it kept on 27 of 32 NQs.

The qualifiers are split across the firm's Leeds, London and Manchester offices and across its five sectors.

Retention announcements this year have typically seen a decline in numbers. Last week magic circle trio Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slaughter and May and Allen & Overy (A&O) revealed marginal drops in trainee retention rates for their spring intakes, posting figures of 85%, 86% and 70% respectively.

Freshfields kept on 40 of its 46 qualifying lawyers, with all but one opting to stay on, while 37 of Slaughters' 43 spring qualifiers were offered a position. Slaughters said that 41 of the 43 trainees qualifying at the firm applied for positions, adding that two others chose to pursue other careers.

Meanwhile, A&O has offered 38 of its 53 newly-qualified lawyers a role, with 37 acceptances.

Other firms to have announced retention rates this year include CMS Cameron McKenna, which posted a retention rate of 68% for trainees qualifying in March; White & Case, which retained 86% of NQs; and Ashurst, which confirmed a figure of 70%.