The German practice of Weil Gotshal & Manges has emerged as one of the firm's best-performing offices after the New York giant revealed modest firmwide financial growth for 2006.

The Manhattan firm saw turnover increase by just 4% across the firm to reach $1.06bn (£544m) – up from a mark of $1.02bn (£524m) for the previous 12-month period. Average profits per partner also rose by around 4%, up from $1.85m (£950,610) to a new figure of $1.95m (£1m).

However, the firm's German practice is understood to have out-performed much of the firm, with average partner profits approaching $3m (£1.54m), with revenue showing double-digit growth.

In the City, where Weil last year hired high-profile private equity partner Marco Compagnoni from Lovells, partner profits rose by 14% to $1.65m (£847,850), although the plunging value of the dollar means the sterling figure is marginally lower than for 2005.

With some outstanding revenues yet to be collected, provisional turnover for the City arm's is around $96m (£49.3m).

The results come with a number of US advisers posting robust financial growth for 2006. Boston firm Bingham McCutchen announced a 12% increase in turnover to $681m (£349m), while Sidley Austin saw turnover up 11% rise to $1.25bn (£637m).

However, Weil is among the first of New York's leading M&A firms to post its 2006 results, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Sullivan & Cromwell, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Cravath Swaine & Moore still yet reveal their annual figures.

One Weil partner told Legal Week: "We are more balanced than other firms and that can have a downside. We have a huge bankruptcy and restructuring practice and there are no restructurings around."