While trainees continue to hang onto their desks with their fingernails, there is at least some good news as a few firms show some faith in their own future (and, frankly, a bit of backbone) by keeping on all of their qualifying trainees. Step forward Bird & Bird and Cleary Gottlieb: well done etc.

Other firms doing well include Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, which is close behind the leaders with an 88% retention rate, Macfarlanes on 85% and Norton Rose on 83%.

However Maclay Murray Spens has cemented its position at the bottom of the table after RollOnFriday readers revealed that the firm is keeping on just three of its trainees. Fellow Scots firm Brodies isn't doing much better, keeping on just five out of twenty. 

Firm	No. of qualifying trainees	No. being kept on	% being kept on
Bird & Bird	16	16	100%
Cleary Gottlieb	6	6	100%
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain	17	15	88%
Macfarlanes	21	18	85%
Norton Rose	24	20	83%
Manches	8	6	75%
Freshfields	48	34	71%
BLG	21	14	70%
Shearman & Sterling	14	9	64%
Jones Day	13	7	54%
McGrigors	29	14	48%
LG	21	9	42%
Bircham Dyson Bell	10	4	40%
DLA Piper	57	20	35%
Brodies	20	5	25%
Shepherd  & Wedderburn	34	8	24%
Blake Lapthorn	14	2	14%
Maclay Murray Spens	31	3	10%

Unsurprisingly none of the firms with terrible retention rates wanted to comment on why their recruitment and development programmes had gone so badly wrong - or even what they would be doing to try to help their trainees who lose their jobs to find other roles.