Norton Rose Fulbright boosts NQ solicitor pay to £87,500
Rises for trainees too

Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) has become the latest City outfit to up the base salaries of its junior lawyers. The outfit, which recruits around 45 trainees each year, confirmed newly qualified (NQ) pay now sits at £87,500 — a rise of 9% from £80,000.
Legal Cheek‘s 2020 Firms Most List shows NRF’s junior lawyers are now £2,500 better off than their counterparts at Macfarlanes (£85,000) and Travers Smith (£85,000). NRF also confirmed its junior lot could earn up to £114,000 through combined base salary and bonus. The rises are effective from 1 January 2020.
NRF has also boosted rookie pay by £1,500. First year trainees will now receive a salary of £46,500, up from £45,000, while those a year ahead will earn £50,500, up from £49,000. This represents a 3% rise across the board.
A spokesperson for NRF said:
“At Norton Rose Fulbright we strive to maintain a culture that values each individual’s contribution. It is essential that we attract and retain high quality people; ensuring our salaries are competitive is key to achieving this.”
The firm performed well in our latest Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey. It received A*s for peer support and office, as well as As for quality of work, training and tech.
News of the uplifts follows the firm’s announcement that it had retained 20 out of 26 autumn NQs — or 77%.
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25 Comments
A&E Phatcock
Phat rise turbo dollah
HK
What is it net after tax and student loan payments?
DYOR
https://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/
Lazy.
2nd yr LLB
Pinsents pay over £70k that’s a pretty top whack you retard
Arbitration Slave
Pinsent Masons – national shop with a London office. Not worth it for the sweaty hours.
Aspiring QC
Just LOL at them paying more than MacFarlanes, which is one of the most elite outfits in the country. This country is going to the dogs
Norton hater
Macs offers bonuses to 96% of fee earners tho. So technically ur better off there
Anonymind
True, also considering that Macs is very renowned for PE work (which is among the most profitable) – and this shows given their PEP is higher than that of MCs!
Legal Genius
Lol, to think CMS and Pinsents are offering 73k at this point. Plebs.
Arbitration Slave
Pinsents is sweaty AF. Horrific hours for a national firm with a London office. Lots of low margin work.
Legal Genius
Same goes for CMS, I hear. I don’t understand these users who praise Pinsents for good training and good hours… the type of work they do is lowwww unless you go real estate or projects.
Asking for a friend
What is the expected daily billable hours for a mid level associate?
anonymind
I’m not sure but it’s actually quite high given the type of firm. I believe I have heard 2100 (this does not sound right), so probably around the 1800-1900 mark.
Curious Clive
No way Pinsents expect their mid-level associates to sweat out 1800-1900 target hours, surely 1500 max. Who would stay for that kind of beasting when K&E or Shearman pay twice for the same target???
Legal Genius
Uni if Westminster graduates?
Anon
And Holman Fenwick Who on a measley £66K.
Anon
Yah but those billable hour targets appear to be at more comfortable levels.
Anonymous
Reed Smith already under another internal salary review..
WillNE
Expect to hear that £85,000 number soon…
Legal Genius
How can a firm with such shet corporate teams pay so much?
CMS 4th Seat Trainee
If NRF can up to this, surely CMS can too? No way I’m staying otherwise.
anon
Lmao stop kidding yourself. Not happening at CMS/Pinsents/Sheds/SPB anytime soon
Legal Genius
Why are they so far behind?
Giv uz fakts
NQ salary news is all well and good but lawyers will want to stay put for at least 3-4 years so please can we have more info on the 1-5 PQE salaries? NQ salaries are irrelevant within less than a year (most firms upmost each year in July and trainees mostly qualify in September).
AnonyNonNon
“Lawyers will want to stay put for at least 3-4 years.”
Optimistic, at NRF. If you don’t want to leave by two years’ PQE I would be surprised.
*awaits downvotes from people who never have and never will work there. Or perhaps NRF’s massive, and massively overpromoted, “marketing” contingent*
Comments are closed.