Commercial litigation specialist firm Kennedys looks set to have propelled itself into the UK's top 50 law firms, posting a 30% increase in revenue for 2008-09.

The firm's revenue reached £67.3m during the last financial year compared to the previous year's total of £51.5m. Meanwhile, profits per equity partner increased by almost 17% to £350,000, from a mark of £300,000 in 2007-08.

The vast chunk of the firm's revenue came from the firm's litigation practice, which accounted for £58.3m of total revenue. London made up £53.2m of turnover, while Asia contributed £13.4m.

Senior partner Nick Thomas commented: "Last year's success is a function of several years of committed investment from the firm in good people, allied to the fact we are very much a dispute resolution boutique – albeit a large one – acting for insurance and reinsurance clients. With these two drivers we have moved up a gear and I expect this coming year to be more of the same."

The firm has eight offices in the UK with a further six internationally in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain and Dubai. It also has a number of associated offices in Europe, Asia and South America.

At the beginning of this financial year the firm had a total of 121 partners, including 46 in the equity.

Last week Watson Farley & Williams also defied the downturn to post a 25% increase in turnover. The firm saw fee income climb from £59m last year to £73.5m for 2008-09. Profits per equity partner grew by 1.4%, increasing from £424,000 to £430,000.