  Motivated by recent experiments on all-optical magnetization reversal in
conductive ferromagnetic thin films we use nonequilibrium formalism to
calculate the effective magnetic field induced in a Rashba ferromagnet by a
short laser pulse. The main contribution to the effect originates in the direct
optical transitions between spin-split subbands. The resulting effective
magnetic field is inversely proportional to the impurity scattering rate and
can reach the amplitude of a few Tesla in the systems like Co/Pt bilayers. We
showthat the total light-induced effective magnetic field in ferromagnetic
systems is the sum of two contributions: a helicity dependent term, which is an
even function of magnetization, and a helicity independent term, which is an
odd function of magnetization. The primary role of the spin-orbit interaction
is to widen the frequency range for direct optical transitions.
