Norton Rose Fulbright has raised salaries for its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers by £1,500, alongside the announcement of a 92% retention rate for this September's trainee intake.

The new NQ salary, which came into effect at the start of 1 July this year but has been backdated to 1 May, has seen pay boosted to £63,000 from £61,500.

The new rate compares favourably with the magic circle, all of which pay their NQs between £61,500 and £64,000, with the exception of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where 'foundation' level associates (NQ to one year post-qualification) receive between £65,000 and £72,500.

Meanwhile, salaries for first and second year trainees at Norton Rose Fulbright have remained static at £38,000 and £43,000 respectively. The firm's associate salaries were last reviewed in May last year, when NQ pay was increased from £60,000 to £61,500. At the same time, first-year trainee pay went up £1,000 from £37,000 to £38,000, alongside a rise of £1,500 for second years.

The newly merged firm has also confirmed an NQ retention rate of 92% after offering 24 of its 26 autumn qualifiers a role at the firm, with all accepting. The rate is significantly up on the same point in the previous year, when legacy Norton Rose saw 78% of its qualifying trainees stay on at the firm out of an intake of 23.

The merger of Norton Rose and US firm Fulbright & Jaworski went live at the beginning of June, creating a global top 10 giant with combined revenues of around $2bn (£1.3bn).

Norton Rose Fulbright London HR head Sarah Kelly said: "These are our first retention figures since our US combination went live and we are really pleased with the rise to a 92% retention rate. We have had three qualification rounds this year and have kept a consistently high retention rate throughout."

The firm last year laid out plans to transition to a four-seat trainee rotation system over a two-year period, meaning that the firm has three qualification rounds in 2013, in January, May and September. There will be a May and September round in 2014 which will then shift to March and September intakes each year.