Jones Day is losing a massive 32% of its qualifying trainees this autumn, but has refused to disclose any further details.
An anonymous source contacted RollOnFriday recently to say that the firm was
"trying to keep a lid on its paltry 60-something-% retention rate". They claimed that "
work has dried up", and that
"partners and associates have left in droves across banking, corporate and real estate". And when contacted by RollOnFriday, a spokeswoman said Jones Day was retaining 68% of its qualifying London trainees this autumn, but refused to disclose how many trainees were offered roles, how many rejected them or even how many were qualifying. Instead, and extremely unusually for a firm of its calibre, she said,
"Jones Day will not be providing the breakdown of the 68% retention rate".
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Nothing to see here
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Jones Day usually takes on 15 trainees per intake, although RollOnFriday's trained monkey could not find a proportion which would yield a 68% rate. Last year the firm managed an impressive 100% rate and was much more forthcoming, issuing a triumphant press release:
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2015
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Apparently David Smith is less delighted this year, and Jones Day's PR team has been instructed to maintain an awkward silence. If it does change its mind, RollOnFriday has crafted this year's announcement free of charge:
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2016 (read this, it's the best bit this week)
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A Jones Day spokeswoman said nothing at all. Meanwhile, Taylor Wessing is retaining 17 of 22 trainees (including the one who got
snogged by a partner at her welcome drinks), giving it a 77% rate. If you know your firm's trainee stats,
write in.
Comments
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There's hardly anyone I know in the City who doesn't think JD's London office is chock-full of utter turbokhunts, and I think word had spread to the prospective trainees.
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Any closer I think you'd need to have more trainees.
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(a) JD offered jobs to all of them and one third couldn't bear to the lechery of the ageing ex-Gouldens partners or the lack of training, support and PSLs, or
(b) the work is drying up so badly (possibly due to clients finding out that JD charges in 15-minute units) that a third of JD's departments can no longer support a single NQ.
Either way, not a good news story.
Plaudits to David Smith though, he is a fantastic public speaker and with that kind of voice and impressive projection, it would surprise me if he wasn't trained at RADA.
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