Taylor Wessing cut staff costs by 17% during the last financial year after reducing staff headcount at the firm.

The Anglo-German firm's UK limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts for 2009-10 show a drop in total staff costs from £37.4m to £31m. This comes against a 12% reduction in headcount, with total staff numbers dropping from 541 to 476.

Support staff numbers fell from 262 to 227 – a drop of 13%. Meanwhile, fee earner numbers dipped by 9% from 258 to 235.

Turnover for the firm's UK LLP stood at £84.5m, down by 7.3% from the previous year, with profits retained for discretionary division among members increasing marginally from £19.3m in 2008-09 to £20.5m in 2009-10. The firm said this was because of savings on expenses, with operating expenses falling from £61m to £55m as a result of negotiating new contracts with suppliers as well as reducing staff costs.

The accounts also show the firm's highest-paid member made £585,744 last year compared with £526,750 the previous year. Average profits per equity partner stood at £452,900.

The accounts also show that the firm improved its cash situation in 2009-10, with its net deficit more than halving from £13.7m to £6.6m. Capital expenditure and financial investment was also significantly smaller in 2009-10 compared with the previous year, dropping from £19.8m to £623,000.

Taylor Wessing's 2008-09 accounts had shown the firm spent £31m on its new City headquarters during that financial year, taking out a £20m bank loan to help finance this. The latest accounts show the loan facility stood at £13m on 30 April 2010, reducing to £5m by July that year. The firm expects it to be paid off by September.

Taylor Wessing finance director Charlotte Beckett said: "It was a good year for the firm in a difficult economic climate. The firm was able to control costs in a number of ways, in particular by working with staff through our holiday purchase scheme and careful management of headcount, which meant the firm continued to grow its profitability."