Herbert Smith Freehills has started taking on trainees in its Belfast legal support centre for the first time, with the firm offering some of its legal assistants training contracts in a bid to retain talent. 

Three legal assistants took up contracts with the firm in September, with more expected to do the same next year, depending on business needs. 

To apply for the traineeships, candidates must have worked at the Belfast base for at least one year and, on qualification, will only be offered jobs in the Northern Ireland office. 

Trainees will be qualified as solicitors in England and Wales – not Northern Ireland – with salaries below those of London trainees but "competitive with the Belfast market".

The move will not be viewed as a first-step on a career path to partnership, with opportunities for promotion at the firm instead geared around the document review space.

Herbert Smith opened its Belfast base in 2011, stating its intention to introduce training contracts in May last year.

Herbert Smith Belfast head Libby Jackson said: "We believe that our offering is attractive to the local market in Northern Ireland, where opportunities for bright law graduates to qualify as solicitors are comparatively few, and the competition for the opportunities that there are locally is fierce."

The Belfast base is currently in its sixth recruitment round since launching in April 2011, with the latest hiring spree to take the number of fee earners in the office to around 70 by April 2013, with a 50/50 split between legal assistants and lawyers.