Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) has overhauled its sector groups, with the firm no longer listing public sector work among its core areas of focus.

The firm has cut back its sectors from eleven to five, with public sector sitting alongside sport and transport as one of three core sectors removed from the list. Meanwhile media and entertainment have been merged with technology and communications to form a TMT group and real estate now sits within a combined hotel, retail and leisure sector.

The changes mean the other three sectors in the new structure are: financial institutions; energy and natural resources; and life sciences and healthcare.

Despite the overhaul Field Fisher, which brings in 35% of its turnover from public sector work and sits on the Government's Buying Solutions legal panel, said it was not moving away from public work, which has been hit by cuts in central Government spending.

Partner Neil Palmer will continue to lead the team, which IT, outsourcing and e-commerce head Michael Chissick (pictured) said is likely to see its percentage contribution to the firm's turnover drop over the coming years due to the spending cuts.

Chissick said: "The public sector practice accounted for 35% of the firm's turnover last year and we've maintained that so far in this financial year. It's been tough for our professional and regulatory work group, following the government cuts on quangos a couple of years back, but our projects-based work is stronger and busier than ever – the firm has circa £3.5bn of public sector procurements on the go and we're currently running four competitive dialogues.

"The sectors on our new roster are the areas that need more direction and budget to grow them. We can't grow every single area and our public sector is in far less need of it."

Field Fisher has been one of the highest-billing external legal advisers to the government in recent years. In January, it was found that the firm took in £3.8m during the 2010-11 financial year, behind Pinsent Mason. However, government spending through the 48-strong panel had dropped by more than a third .

In June, after the firm posted a 20% drop in profits per equity partner (PEP) for the 2011-12 financial year, managing partner Matthew Lohn confirmed that public sector cuts was the primary reason for the firm's fall in profitability, since government work traditionally accounted for a large portion of the firm's revenue.

Additionally, the firm made two lawyers in its public and regulatory team redundant earlier this year, following a consultation launched last November.