Denton Wilde Sapte has posted a 20% increase in profits per equity partner (PEP) as it becomes the first UK top 50 law firm to release its 2009-10 financial results.

The top 20 firm also recorded stable revenues, with a drop of just 1% to £167.5m from the £169.8m taken in during the 2008-09 financial year.

Partner profits rose by 20% from £300,000 to £360,000, while the firm grew total profits by 22% from £25.8m to £31.4m.

The firm also said that it had boosted revenue per lawyer by 7.5%.

However, the growth in PEP does not bring Dentons back to historic levels, after profits fell from £470,000 in the 2007-08 financial year.

Almost a third of the total revenues – 31% – were generated by the firm's international network, with turnover in the Middle East region up by 11%.

Dentons chief executive Howard Morris told Legal Week: "Our workforce has been outstanding and we have also seen the benefits of the cost-cutting we undertook. However there is more than cost-saving that fed into this increased profit number. We have also been very imaginative and creative with our pricing and the services that we deliver to our clients."

"Like many other firms we have felt the pain of the recession but we have turned a corner and now have a clear path ahead. We are budgeting for a better year this year but it would be rash to think that it will be an easy time, with the worries concerning the economy in the UK and the euro instability."

Dentons said that its corporate and real estate practice areas remained slow after the recession while banking and finance had seen a better year than last, while corporate restructuring was an especially busy area for the firm.

Denton Wilde Sapte on the Legal Week Wiki