Hogan Lovells saw profit before tax decrease by 7% in in the year to 30 April 2012, against a slight growth in revenue, according to accounts filed for the firm's UK LLP.

Documents filed on Companies House yesterday (5 February) show a 1.5% increase in revenue to £591m, which the firm attributed to a 1.2% growth in capacity. Staff costs increased by less than 1% to £240m, while operating expenses soared 18% from £122m to £145m, which the firm partly attributed to future costs relating to surplus office space.

This contributed to average profit per equity member falling 8% to £761,000, despite a drop of seven equity members to 215 in the year. Profit available for division among equity members also decreased 11% to £163.5m from £184.1m in 2011.

However, the share of the profit and remuneration of the thirteen-strong management team remained static at £8.1m.

The accounts, which cover the firm's business outside the Americas, also counted no net debt, with net cash increasing from £46m to £62m.

Elsewhere, filings show the group had more than £100m of invoices outstanding, including £12.6m in receivables still due after 120 days. The firm said figures were not surprising given the tight economic downturn.

A spokesperson for the firm said: "We have achieved these results in a period of significant economic uncertainty. To have delivered a broadly flat performance in this market is a good reflection of our global capability, the diversity of our practice and the benefits from the combination."

Meanwhile, UK LLP filings for Mayer Brown have revealed that the firm's top earning partner took home £1.05m for 2011-12, a small increase on the £1.01m pocketed by its top earner in 2010-11.

The City office, which counted an average of 98 members in 2012, also made significant inroads to writing down debt, reducing the amount it owed to creditors falling within one year from £30.4m to £20.3m in 2011-12. The firm also reduced the amount it owed to creditors after more than year by 16.7% to £21.9m.

The firm said the move was part of a global strategy to reduce its repayments. This contributed towards a fall in profit for the financial year available for division among partners to £22m, down from £28m in 2010-11. Fee income also dropped from £111.3m in 2010-11 to £105.8m last year.