CMS, Nabarro and Olswang are to pay out a total of £250,000 to 25 trainees who agreed to defer their start dates at the merged firm for six months.

The three firms, which will combine on 1 May this year, had offered £10,000 to incoming trainees who agreed to push back the start of training contracts due to begin in August and September this year.

The voluntary deferral offer, which was announced in December, has been taken up by 25 of the 46 trainees it was offered to. The firm declined to provide a breakdown of the numbers by firm.

The deferred trainees, who will now begin their training at the merged firm in February 2018, were also invited to take part in what the firm describes as a "strategic CMS corporate social responsibility project", an offer that was taken up by two deferring trainees, who will also both receive the £10,000 payout.

News of the take-up comes after the firms announced a combined spring trainee retention rate of 84%. Out of 45 trainees across all three firms, 38 accepted offers.

Nabarro has kept on all nine of its newly qualified lawyers in London, while Olswang has retained seven out of eight (88%) in London, and CMS has retained 22 trainees out of 28 (78%). Of these, 19 were in London, two were in Bristol and one was in Vienna.

These rates mark an increase on last year for all three firms. Last spring, Nabarro kept on 89% of its intake, Olswang retained 75% and CMS kept on 61.5%.

Partners at CMS UK, Olswang and Nabarro voted in favour of the transformative merger in October. Nabarro and Olswang will join the CMS UK LLP, which will be re-named CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP. The deal will create a firm with nearly 2,500 lawyers in the UK, within a global total of more than 4,500 lawyers across 36 countries, with combined UK revenues of around £450m and global revenues of more than €1.2bn.