Mayer Brown London fee income fell by 9.5% in the year to 30 April 2013, according to accounts filed with Companies House.

The revenue fall came during a year which saw a number of partner departures, though senior lawyer headcount has since rebounded on the back of a string of lateral recruits last autumn.

But while fee income dropped from £105.8m to £95.8m in 2012-13, operating profit had a smaller dip, falling 5.5% from £31m to £29m.

Net debt fell by 25% to £25.6m, while the net bank overdraft fell from £3.7m to £228,000.

Operating expenses also saw a considerable drop, down 11% to £66.7m, including a 9% decrease in staff costs to £31.2m. Legal and support staff numbers also fell 8.5%, with the equivalent of 14 legal and 26 support staff exiting the office in the year.

The average number of members fell from 98 to 92, providing an average profit per member figure of £310,177. However, the member with the largest entitlement to profit took home £1.16m for the year, 10% up on the previous year's figure of £1.05m.

In a statement, London managing partner Sean Connolly said the year had been a "challenging" one, but that profitability had been maintained "through continued focus on management of cost-base".

"The volume and value of transactional workflows improved in the second half of the year and, when combined with the continued success of our contentious and advisory businesses, meant we ended the year strongly."

Separately, the firm today (6 February) announced it had hired Ashurst partner Julian Elison to its antitrust and competition practice in Brussels.

Elison, who has been involved in many EU and UK Competition Commission cases, has been brought in to support the "increasing M&A activities of our clients", Brussels head Kiran Desai commented.