Herbert Smith saw its total bank borrowings increase by £5m during 2008-09 according to its most recent limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts.

The UK top 10 firm's LLP accounts, recently filed with Companies House, show the firm had total bank borrowings of £75.6m at the close of the last financial year, compared with borrowings of £70.3m during 2008. The firm's bank overdraft and loans due within the year increased to £23.7m from £14.9m.

However, cash in hand also increased, rising from £27.3m at 30 April 2008 to £34.1m on the same date in 2009.

The accounts also show that audited turnover stood at £441.9m for 2008-09 compared with £466m in 2007-08. At face value, the figure represents a drop of 5%; however, turnover for 2007-08 was inflated as the firm's decision to change its financial year end from March to April meant that the 2007-08 figure represented 13 months rather than 12.

The highest-paid fee earner in 2008-09 took home £1.1m – approximately 20% less than the previous year's figure of £1.4m.

Meanwhile, total salaries increased by 4.7% to £151.4m from £144.6m, while the firm's average fee earning headcount rose by 78 to 1,210.

Commenting on the disparity in revenue numbers, a firm spokesperson said: "The 2007-08 and 2008-09 figures in the LLP accounts are not like-for-like, because the 2007-08 accounts cover a 13-month period because of our change of accounting year end. This accounts for the vast majority of the disparity between the two figures."