Dentons’ UK, Ireland and Middle East (UKIME) region has retained almost 70% of trainees and apprentices in the UK who applied for newly qualified roles in 2023. This latest round of figures sees the first two apprentices from Dentons to become newly qualified, after completing a six-year scheme which was introduced in 2017. 

The Firm currently has 23 apprentices, one of the largest apprentice cohorts in the UK legal market.

Out of the 30 trainees who applied in the UK (out of a total qualifying cohort of 32), 23, along with two apprentices, have accepted permanent NQ roles commencing in the autumn. Of the 25 newly qualified lawyers, 17 will be based in London, one in Milton Keynes, and six in Scotland.

Separately, in the Middle East Dentons continues to increase its investment in developing talented junior lawyers, building on the qualifications so far in 2023 of three trainees, with the addition of six newly qualified lawyers planned across the firm’s Doha, Muscat, Amman and Riyadh offices.

The firm also announced late last year that London TMT partner Anna Copeman’s Trainee Principal role will include responsibility for apprentices, reflecting the equal importance of both cohorts in the firm’s early career pathways.

UKIME CEO Paul Jarvis said: “I am proud to congratulate our trainees and apprentices who qualify in autumn 2023, and thank them for their outstanding contribution to our Firm. 

They are a great addition to the talent we have, and I look forward to continuing seeing them bring their fresh ideas, high energy, motivation to learn, and new perspectives on what it means to be a commercial lawyer at the law firm of the future.”