Clifford Chance (CC) will keep on 80% of its spring qualifying trainees the firm announced today.

The firm confirmed today that it had made offers to 43 of the 54-strong cohort, with all accepting the offer to stay with the firm as newly-qualified solicitors.

The retention rate for its March qualifiers is down on its autumn intake which saw 96% of trainees being retained by the firm.

Last spring, CC kept on 91% of its intake.

The spring 2016 rate also marks a drop compared to its spring 2014 level of 94%. However, in autumn 2014 the firm only retained 75% of its September qualifiers.

CC is the fourth magic circle firm to announce its spring trainee retention figures for 2016, and the firm with the lowest rate so far.

Linklaters announced this week that its spring retention rate had fallen eight percentage points to 83%, with 45 trainees accepting offers out of 49 that qualified.

Slaughter and May retained 95% of its trainees, with 38 out of 40 accepting offers to stay with the firm.

Meanwhile, Allen & Overy retained 91% of its trainees, with 39 out of the firm's 43 qualifying trainees staying with the firm. All of the trainees offered places elected to stay with the firm.

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