National litigation specialist Irwin Mitchell has unveiled solid financial results for 2004-05 with profits per equity partner (PEP) edging closer to the £500,000 mark.

The firm has consolidated its position among the top 20 UK firms by posting a PEP figure of £490,000 at year-end, an increase of just over 1% from last year's £485,000.

Turnover at the 83-partner firm also broke the £100m barrier for the first time hitting £102m during 2004-05, a 12% increase on last year's £91m.

The results mean the UK arm of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary,which last month posted a 12.6% PEP surge to hit £535,000, has now leapfrogged Irwin Mitchell as the most profitable national practice.

Irwin Mitchell managing partner Howard Culley told Legal Week he was pleased with the performance but said the firm would be aiming to break the £500,000 PEP barrier next year.

He added that litigation – the firm's core practice area – had seen the most growth for a second successive year.

The firm's profitability is under-pinned by its high fee earner/equity partner leverage, which currently stands at 15:1.

The firm currently has 48 full equity partners across its network of offices in London, Sheffield, Newcastle, Leeds and Birmingham.

Irwin Mitchell made up six new partners during 2005, compared to three the previous year.

A notable hire saw the firm in January recruit DLA's national education and charities head Michael Longden as a partner in its Leeds office.