The £100m question is can LG sustain and build upon a pace-setting run in 2009-10?

Fair or not, the news of impressive 2009-10 financial results from LG was met more with head-scratching than plaudits from the legal industry. With the firm raising its top line 7.6% to £64.9m while increasing profits per equity partner (PEP) 63.7% to £460,000, the question is: what is the secret formula of a firm that hasn't exactly been a pace-setter in recent years?

Well, the firm's two highest growth practices in 2009-10 were finance and dispute resolution, with the former growing 38% to £4m and the latter growing 26.7% to produce revenues of £14.7m.

LG's corporate recovery team straddles both groups and has in part contributed to the revenue hike, having acted on a number of administrations including adult gaming centres Agora and Caesar's World and the High & Mighty retail chain. The team also advised the liquidators of Orion Holding Overseas in the Dubai International Financial Centre court. Meanwhile, the firm's disputes practice worked on a number of sizeable mandates including picking up work from the fallout surrounding Madoff and Lehman Brothers.

However, it wasn't just the counter-cyclical teams that delivered. The firm's corporate team generated revenues of £19.2m, representing a 2.7% increase on 2008-09 results – a very credible result given LG's exposure to AIM. Last year the firm advised new client C&C Group on two deals, the first its £180m takeover of the Irish and Scottish businesses of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the second a £45m acquisition of The Gaymer Cider Company from Constellation Brands.

The team also advised Russian energy giant Gazprom over an undeveloped offshore gas field in Russia's Barents Sea. The Gazprom instruction reflects what LG argues is a sharp upturn in its international work, estimating that around 40% of its revenue now comes from foreign-based clients – a sharp rise on the previous year.

For a firm heavily exposed to real estate it is perhaps surprising that LG fared so well during 2009-10, reporting a dip in the practice's turnover of 1.2% to £16.8m. The firm attributes this to its institutional client base which includes Sainsbury's, NFU Mutual and, since February 2009, Liverpool Victoria Asset Management – of which LG is the sole property adviser. The lack of debt-funded clients held property back during the boom but has apparently given it some protection during the lean recent years.

LG also concedes that this year's results should be seen in the context of a very tough 2008-09, in which profits tumbled and fee income fell 10% to £60.3m.

One challenge that the firm now faces is to regroup after the departure of half of its private client team this year to create its own boutique Berkeley Law, and the loss of well-regarded operators such as Paul Walker (who left to take up the general counsel role at client C&C in June).

While there is much talk of LG's ambitions regarding a merger, there are those that argue a domestic deal would be preferable to a US tie-up, which would effectively be a takeover. Either way, it is clear the firm remains intent on getting PEP above £500,000 and partners speak of pushing turnover to £100m-plus.

As a firm that has often not been particularly comfortable in the spotlight now may be the moment to articulate more of its recent successes. Certainly, all eyes will be on LG to see what it produces in 2010-11. No pressure.