Latham & Watkins and Shearman & Sterling have both increased their trainee retention rates for their autumn intake.

Latham announced today that it will keep 95% of its London trainees when they qualify this September and Shearman will retain all of its 13 trainees.

The rates mark a sharp increase from last year when Latham retained 89% of its trainees that qualified in the autumn and Shearman kept on 75% of its qualifying trainees.

Latham offered positions to all of its 21 trainees but one chose not to apply. The trainees who are staying are spread evenly across its corporate, finance and litigation practices.

Kem Ihenacho, trainee principal at Latham, said: "The 100% offer rate and the acceptance rate reflect both the quality of our trainees and the fantastic opportunities available to talented junior lawyers here."

Shearman's newly qualified lawyers will join a range of practices including finance, M&A, tax, antitrust, project development, finance, asset management and financial institutions.

Mei Lian, Shearman's training principal, said: "What is particularly significant about this is that we were able to offer each of them their first choice of practice area on qualification this year."