Pinsent Masons has unveiled a "disappointing" spring trainee retention rate of just 50%.

Only five out of ten trainees in the cohort will stay with the firm post-qualification.

Ten of the spring trainees qualified, seven of who applied for roles with the firm. One of the applicants was unsuccessful and one turned down the offer, leaving five joining the firm.

The firm's head of recruitment and graduate development, Deborah McCormack, noted that a further qualifier opted to join Vario, the firm's flexible lawyer offering.

She said: "Naturally, it's disappointing that retention is not as high as it has been in previous years.

"It's a competitive market currently and we're focused on offering an attractive environment for retaining the great new talent that we have entering the firm."

In 2015 the firm's spring retention rate was 79%, with 15 out of 19 trainees staying on at the firm.

Sixteen of them applied for roles, all of who received offers, of which 15 were accepted.

Meanwhile Baker & McKenzie has announced a trainee retention rate of 94% for its spring intake.

The international firm has kept on 15 out of its 16 qualifiers.

The individual trainee who chose not to take a contract with the firm has left to practice law in her native country. One of the 15 who have stayed on at the firm has taken a fixed term contract, as his preferred practice area did not have any positions available.

The NQs have joined the corporate, intellectual property (IP), disputes, employment, competition, IT/commercial and corporate tax teams.

Of other firms to have released their spring retention rate in 2016, Eversheds retained 100% of their qualifying group, with all eight trainees staying with the firm.

This was a repeat of the firm's 2015 spring rate, when 17 out of 17 took jobs with firm.

Ashurst retained 79% of its spring trainees, with 19 out of fifteen newly qualified lawyers accepting roles at the firm.