Top U.K. law firms hire far more female lawyers than male at trainee level, but there is a massive drop-off in female retention after the three-year post-qualification point, new research has found.

On average, women make up 58.26% of trainees at large law firms, according to a comprehensive survey of 55 large firms by Law.com International. This drops slightly to 54.08% by the time they reach three years PQE, and then drops steeply to an average of 27.15% at partner level.