{"id":155683,"date":"2026-07-01T10:30:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/07\/01\/biglaw-firm-gets-on-board-with-new-associate-salary-scale\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T10:30:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:30:45","slug":"biglaw-firm-gets-on-board-with-new-associate-salary-scale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/07\/01\/biglaw-firm-gets-on-board-with-new-associate-salary-scale\/","title":{"rendered":"Biglaw Firm Gets On Board With New Associate Salary Scale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Norton Rose Fulbright has matched the new Milbank salary scale<\/a>, effective July 1, 2026. The firm \u2014 one of the largest in the world by headcount \u2014 is raising associate base compensation across the scale, with first-years going to $235,000 and the most senior associates landing at $455,000.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the new scale for associates billing 1,900 hours:<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Class Year<\/th>\nBase Compensation<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
2026<\/td>\n$235,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2025<\/td>\n$235,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2024<\/td>\n$245,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2023<\/td>\n$270,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2022<\/td>\n$320,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2021<\/td>\n$385,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2020<\/td>\n$410,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>\n$440,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2018<\/td>\n$455,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

For those who need a refresher on the firm\u2019s 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>, a move that did not go over well. In 2018, the firm applied raises inconsistently across offices<\/a>, 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<\/a>. In 2022, NRF initially said it was \u201cmonitoring\u201d the market<\/a> rather than matching, before eventually coming around to the full Cravath scale<\/a>, and in 2023 the firm\u2019s salary announcement was notably missing some crucial elements<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of compensation updates. When your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477)<\/strong> or email us (subject line: \u201c[Firm Name] Matches\u201d). Memo preferred, photo works just fine.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Biglaw Firm Gets On Board With New Associate Salary Scale<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Norton Rose Fulbright has matched the new Milbank salary scale<\/a>, effective July 1, 2026. The firm \u2014 one of the largest in the world by headcount \u2014 is raising associate base compensation across the scale, with first-years going to $235,000 and the most senior associates landing at $455,000.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the new scale for associates billing 1,900 hours:<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Class Year<\/th>\nBase Compensation<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
2026<\/td>\n$235,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2025<\/td>\n$235,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2024<\/td>\n$245,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2023<\/td>\n$270,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2022<\/td>\n$320,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2021<\/td>\n$385,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2020<\/td>\n$410,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>\n$440,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2018<\/td>\n$455,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

For those who need a refresher on the firm\u2019s 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>, a move that did not go over well. In 2018, the firm applied raises inconsistently across offices<\/a>, 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<\/a>. In 2022, NRF initially said it was \u201cmonitoring\u201d the market<\/a> rather than matching, before eventually coming around to the full Cravath scale<\/a>, and in 2023 the firm\u2019s salary announcement was notably missing some crucial elements<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of compensation updates. When your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477)<\/strong> or email us (subject line: \u201c[Firm Name] Matches\u201d). Memo preferred, photo works just fine.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Norton Rose Fulbright has matched the new Milbank salary scale, effective July 1, 2026. The firm \u2014 one of the largest in the world by headcount \u2014 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\u2019s the new scale for associates billing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":155678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-Bwm1Lk.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}