A global law firm serving large companies and financial institutions, with a two-year direct training contract in London.
Norton Rose Fulbright is a global law firm that works mainly for large companies and financial institutions. Its careers listing says it has more than 3,000 lawyers and over 7,000 employees across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East (own claim).
The firm has roots going back to 1794 in London, when Robert Charsley began practising on his own. Through partnerships it became Norton, Rose, Norton & Co around 1900, then Norton Rose, and it opened its first international office in Hong Kong in 1976. Over the next years it joined with firms in Australia, Canada and South Africa. On 3 June 2013 it combined with Fulbright & Jaworski, a Texas firm that began in 1919, to form Norton Rose Fulbright. Its UK offices include London and Newcastle.
The firm lists its values as Quality, Unity and Integrity, and says it values collaboration, commercial thinking and empowering people to work beyond boundaries. We found no separate mission statement. It runs an early careers podcast called Jump Start.
Lawyers work in teams on matters such as company deals, loans and disputes, and trainees move through four six-month placements called seats, with Corporate and Banking compulsory and a likely secondment (a spell with a client or another office). Business teams, including a graduate scheme in business and legal operations, support the lawyers.
The firm's UK FAQ page describes several routes. Vacation schemes in winter and summer are open to penultimate-year, final-year and graduate applicants, law or non-law, with virtual assessment centres. About 45 to 50 trainees start each year in March and September. The direct training contract lasts two years, is based in London, and is open to law graduates, non-law graduates who have done the PGDL, and final-year law students; the firm pays SQE fees and a maintenance grant, though the amounts were not stated. Applications for the 2028 intake ran from 1 to 30 October 2026. School leavers who are in their final A level year can apply for a solicitor apprenticeship in London (AAB at A level, leading to an LLB) or a paralegal apprenticeship in Newcastle (three A levels at A to C). Up to four places a year are on the business and legal operations graduate scheme in London, open to any degree. Schemes generally ask for AAB at A level and a 2:1, and the RARE system looks at the context of your grades. Stages are an application, an online test, a video interview and an assessment centre. These are as at 2026 and the FAQ date is not shown, so check current details.
Website: www.nortonrosefulbright.com
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