Allen & Overy's (A&O's) limited liability partnership (LLP) cash reserves dipped by £40m during the last financial year as a result of the magic circle law firm's restructuring.

Details of the LLP's cashflow contained within A&O's annual report show £31.7m in the bank at the end of April 2009, compared with £72.4m at the same date the previous year.

For the consolidated accounts this rises to £52.5m, down from £83m at April 2008.
The dip is explained by the firm's February restructuring, which saw A&O cutting partner, associate and support staff numbers by around 9% at a cost of £46m.

The firm's consolidated accounts show it has already paid out £19.6m to staff who have left as a result of the job cuts, with £26.4m going to affected partners. The report confirmed that some partners left by the year-end, with a further 37 equity partners leaving shortly afterwards. In total 47 partners were involved.

Separately, the accounts confirm that the highest-paid partner in 2009 received £2.3m. The figure, £1m higher than the £1.34m peak of the firm's lockstep, includes a termination payment in addition to the normal profit share. Last year's highest paid partner received £2.1m, with the figure also including a termination payment.

The publication of the report underlines the firm's reputation as one of the most financially transparent firms.

Overall staff costs for the magic circle law firm increased by nearly £70m during the last financial year as a result of increases in headcount and the £19.6m payout, with total staff numbers growing from an average of 4,694 for the year ending April 2007 to 4,949 in 2008 and 5,089 for 2009. Most of those affected by the restructuring left after 30 April, so details are not included in the current report.

Details of the capital call A&O made to partners for around £11m as a result of the restructuring will not appear until next year's accounts, although the current figures show that partners made regular capital payments of around £18.3m, compared with £12.1m during 2008.