Norton Rose Fulbright has matched the new Milbank salary scale, effective July 1, 2026. The firm — one of the largest in the world by headcount — is raising associate base compensation across the scale, with first-years going to $235,000 and the most senior associates landing at $455,000.
Here’s the new scale for associates billing 1,900 hours:
| Class Year | Base Compensation |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $235,000 |
| 2025 | $235,000 |
| 2024 | $245,000 |
| 2023 | $270,000 |
| 2022 | $320,000 |
| 2021 | $385,000 |
| 2020 | $410,000 |
| 2019 | $440,000 |
| 2018 | $455,000 |
For those who need a refresher on the firm’s compensation history: Norton Rose Fulbright has not always been the smoothest operator during salary war season. In 2016, the firm raised first-year salaries to $180K but punted on upper class years and made the effective date October 1, a move that did not go over well. In 2018, the firm applied raises inconsistently across offices, leaving Texas and California associates on a different track than their New York and D.C. counterparts, and associates were, shall we say, not pleased. In 2022, NRF initially said it was “monitoring” the market rather than matching, before eventually coming around to the full Cravath scale, and in 2023 the firm’s salary announcement was notably missing some crucial elements.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1