Berwin Leighton Paisner has confirmed its average profit per equity partner (PEP) figure for 2012/13 has dropped by nearly 40%, as previously reported by Legal Week in its UK Top 50. 

Following months of speculation about the scale of its profit decline BLP has revealed that this year's PEP figure stands at £401,000, down 39% from £660,000 in 2011/12. In addition net profit dropped 38% to £39.4m, from £63.6m last year.

Rumours about BLP's ailing profits have been circulating since the summer, with some partners inside the firm predicting falls of up to 50%

In July, the firm reported a 5% drop in revenue after taking in a total of £233m. The figure is down on last year's £246m, which was a 7.4% increase on the previous 12 months.

During an interview with Legal Week in August, BLP managing partner Neville Eisenberg said: "Because the market is so tight, the competitive environment has been especially tough. In London, there has been fierce competition at all levels.

"In the past five years, we've invested a lot in people from the very best firms. They have been getting up to speed and now we are competing for higher-quality work than we used to – part of the reason we found last year challenging."

During the past year BLP has conducted its second redundancy round in the past four years, with 58 lawyers and 44 secretarial staff laid off.

The firm has also suffered a steady stream of partner exits in the last few months, with contentious tax head Liesl Fichardt leaving to join Clifford Chance and global head of private equity Raymond McKeeve exiting for Jones Day.

In July BLP restructured its Managed Legal Services (MLS) division following a number of departures including Patrick Somers, relationship partner for key client Thames Water and MLS chief executive Andrew MacNaughton.

Meanwhile BLP's flexible working business Lawyers on Demand (LoD) is performing well, posting a 28% turnover increase to £9m in the past 12 months. Last week LoD announced the pilot of a new legal project management service, something which BLP partners have suggested could be adopted as an alternative to setting up a separate legal process outsourcing centre.