Norton Rose reduced its salary costs by £5m during the last financial year through its high-profile Flex programme and the outsourcing of around 60 City support staff.

The firm's 2009-10 accounts, recently filed at Companies House, show that total staff salaries and wages decreased from £131m to £126m over the year.

The firm said that its flexible working programme – which was used during the recession and saw a large number of lawyers and staff placed on a four-day week – accounted for about £3m of the savings. Norton Rose has previously estimated that implementing the measures saved around 100 jobs at the firm.

The outsourcing of support staff to service company Mace Macro in February 2009 also contributed to the savings, although the firm now pays for the services as part of its general operating costs.

Staff numbers at the firm decreased slightly from 2,059 to 2,012 during 2009-10, with total fee earners falling from 992 to 982 and business services staff headcount decreasing from 1,067 to 1,030.

Norton Rose also increased its total borrowings by £22m over the year to pay the tax bill on its pre-recession profits.

The firm's total borrowings increased from just £2.3m at the end of the 2008-09 financial year to £24.7m. The firm said the increase came in response to tax debts on boom-era profits, paid for in January 2010, and a higher level of debtors than usual due to the recession, counting for £191m compared to £164m the previous year.

Total turnover decreased from £322m to £314m, while fee income was down from £314m to £307m, and total operating profit fell from £81m to £78m.

The highest-paid partner at the firm was paid £888,780 during 2009-10, compared to £739,416 the previous year.