White & Case's London arm paid out £10.4m towards the global firm's central running costs in 2010 – an increase of over 40% on the previous year.

The firm's new UK limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts for 2010 show its London office paid out in excess of £10.4m in contributions towards White & Case's share of joint costs, up from slightly more than £7.4m in 2009. The contribution from the firm's UK practice has more than doubled since 2008, when it paid out £4.7m.

The London practice is one of the largest offices in the network of the US-based White & Case, which ranks in the top 20 largest law firms in the world in revenue terms with global income of $1.28bn (£798m) in 2010.

A firm spokesperson attributed the increase in costs to the continuation of joint projects such as the firm's support function in Manila.

The accounts, which cover the year ending 31 December 2010, also show the UK LLP saw staff costs remain roughly static during the period, although headcount fell from 433 to 422. Fee earner headcount fell from 291 to 277, while non-fee earners rose from 142 to 145. The average number of partners at the LLP dropped from 66 to 54.

The figures cover a period of relative stability for the firm after redundancies and a restructuring of its partnership in 2009 which saw 95 fee earners and business support staff lose their jobs. However, the firm has been moving to regain the initiative in the City after last year losing a team of London-based partners to Latham & Watkins.

The LLP filing shows the firm generated UK income of £110.3m in 2010, slightly down on the £112.3m it achieved in 2009. Profits also fell slightly to £36.4m, against £37.6m the previous year.

A spokesperson for the firm added: "White & Case is a global organisation and the London accounts reflect this position. In 2010 some of our existing costs were realigned to fit in with our regional and global structure, a process which has been ongoing for a few years now. These changes are reflected in the fact that an increasing proportion of our services are accounted for centrally and then charged back to individual offices."

Separately, new UK LLP accounts for the local office of Dechert show the US-based law firm's London practice generated income of £37.7m in 2010, against £40.8m the previous year, with profits falling from £14.4m to £11.8m.

The accounts also show that its highest earner took home £3.1m during the 2010 financial year – a marginal increase on last year's figure of £3m.

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