Manchester has strengthened its status as a leading legal centre with the city's major firms each generating more than £20m in fees last financial year for the first time, according to figures compiled by Legal Week.
Provisional figures for the year-end to April reveal that Addleshaw Booth & Co, DLA, Halliwell Landau and Eversheds have all cruised past the £20m mark, with most achieving 20% plus growth in their bottom line.
Halliwells has confirmed that its turnover increased 24% on last year, driven by strong corporate growth and an aggressive programme of lateral hiring.
But most observers believe DLA and Addleshaws, whose firm-wide figures also show a 24% growth in turnover, have topped the table for fee income for Manchester.
Eversheds' 31-partner office, which is twinned with the firm's larger Leeds operation, has also seen a bumper year, with official figures showing the trans-Pennine practice bringing in £47m in fees.
Legal Week understands that the firm's Manchester corporate team, one of the most high-profile in the Northwest, has been the main driving force behind the growth and has helped the office to increase fee income by £6m, up from £14m last year.
Elsewhere, commercial firms have seen strong results with Hammond Suddards and Cobbetts clocking up growth of 23% and 25% respectively.
Public profit figures are equally strong with Cobbetts raising profits per partner to £185,000 and Pannones' partners taking home on average £130,000, compared with £110,000 last year. Cobbetts managing partner Michael Shaw told Legal Week that the large jump in profits was due to the successful bedding down of Cobbetts' integration with local firm Slater Heelis, which broke up several years ago.
But the figures show that pressure on insurance firms, who are struggling with the downturn in litigation work and cost-cutting by panel clients, is still intense. Berrymans Lace Mawer only saw a £600,000 rise on last year's turnover to £10.6m.
Berrymans office head Nigel Roden commented on the figures: "It was a very good result under the circumstances. The level of work is down generally, but we are expecting it to pick up in the current year."