Norton Rose Fulbright has confirmed it will match the new Milbank salary scale, with the changes taking effect on July 1, 2026.
The firm, one of the largest in the world by headcount, is raising associate base compensation at every level across the scale.
First-year associates will now earn $235,000, while the most senior associates will see their base compensation reach $455,000.
The revised pay structure applies to associates billing 1,900 hours, in line with the standard framework that has become common across major Biglaw firms during salary adjustment cycles.
Norton Rose Fulbright’s decision to match the Milbank scale brings it in line with a growing number of large firms that have moved quickly to adopt the new compensation benchmarks.
The firm’s salary history has not always been without controversy, and its handling of previous pay cycles has drawn criticism from associates on more than one occasion.
In 2016, Norton Rose Fulbright raised first-year salaries to $180,000 but did not extend the increases to upper class years, and set an effective date of October 1, a decision that proved deeply unpopular.
Two years later in 2018, the firm applied raises inconsistently across its offices, leaving associates in Texas and California on a different compensation track than those based in New York and Washington D.C.
The inconsistent 2018 rollout prompted a notably negative reaction from associates, who made clear their dissatisfaction with the uneven approach to pay increases across the firm’s domestic offices.
By moving swiftly to adopt the Milbank scale in full this time, Norton Rose Fulbright appears to be taking a more straightforward approach to the latest round of associate compensation increases.
The broader Biglaw salary war continues to accelerate in 2026, with firms under pressure to retain junior talent in a highly competitive legal market where compensation expectations have risen sharply.