National firm Cobbetts has posted a 16% drop in fee income for the last financial year.

The firm saw fee income fall to £48.5m for 2008-09 from £58m the previous year, a dip of 16.3%.

The firm has yet to announce its final turnover figure or its average profits per equity partner. Last year's turnover stood at £59.3m, while 2008-09 profits are expected to be significantly down on last year's figure of £305,000.

Cobbetts managing partner Michael Shaw said: "These results are in line with expectations for a firm like ours, which is built around transactional capability rather than volume activity. Certain practice areas have performed outstandingly, with banking litigation and commercial litigation the obvious examples. But the simple reality is that trading in this type of economic climate is challenging, and has required a careful balance to be struck between reviewing costs whilst maintaining and developing competitive capabilities."

The firm has conducted three redundancy rounds over the last year. The first affected six jobs, including four associates in its domestic conveyancing and professional support departments. The second affected around 35 fee earners, while the third hit around 20 secretaries, as well as eight positions in facilities, finance and IT.

Shaw added: "We were one of the first to take action to ensure that our ongoing expenditure was balanced against revenue, and opted to take all of the costs of restructuring the business in one year. At the same time, we have worked hard over the last nine months to refocus so that we can exploit market opportunities coming out of the recession. We have continued to recruit appropriate senior talent in building key competitive capabilities."

The announcement of Cobbetts' figures come after both Pinsent Masons and Wragge & Co announced their results last week. Pinsents posted a 1% increase in revenues, taking turnover to £215m. Wragges, meanwhile, reported a 17% drop in turnover, with revenues falling from £125.6m in 2007-08 to £104.3m. The firm is yet to finalise its average profits per equity partner, but early indications suggest a dip of around 30% from last year's figure of £483,000.