Extra 5k
Norton Rose Fulbright has bumped up its newly qualified (NQ) solicitor salaries in London to £140,000, a rise of just under 4% on the previous rate of £135,000.
The Legal Cheek Firms Most List 2026 shows the pay uplift puts NRF’s NQs on same salary level as their peers at Ashurst, Hogan Lovells and Macfarlanes.
Trainee salaries are staying level, with first year trainees earning £56,000, while second years earn £61,000. The firm typically offers around 50 TCs each year.
The firm confirmed that this change was effected from 1 April 2026.
They missed out on more value though because they didn’t take me on for a vac scheme </3 :_(
Whoever downvoted me lacks whimsy and joy
Do you u think shed or DLA will rise NQ salaries?
Not the environment where rises are needed, I wouldn’t have said (you may have noticed that reporting on trainee retention rates has basically dried up since last autumn…)
DLA are already paying above their profitability in my opinion at £130k for NQs. Maybe they will become more profitabile in the near term or maybe a downturn will come and they’ll have to make redundancies.
Eversheds have made clear they are not going to chase DLA. I could see their salaries going from £110k to £115k, and continuing to lose staff to CMS, AG and DLA as a result, but at least they are better hedged.
Who’s going from Sheds to AG?
AG refused to rise during the last batch and now pays less than Shoosmiths.
Why would someone at ES go AG when AG pay less at NQ 💀
Are the hours less though at ES compared to AG, DLA and NR?
Please sir, can I have more…crumbs?