Ashurst's highest paid earner took home £977,000 in 2012-3, down from over £1m in 2012, according to the firm's LLP accounts.

The filings – which look at the last financial year before the firm's merger with Australia's Blake Dawson – show that net funds dropped from £20.9m in 2011-12 to £6.9m at the end of 2012-13. Cash at the bank fell from £21.2m to £7.2m over the same period.

Meanwhile, turnover was broadly static year-on-year, increasing slightly from £321.2m in 2011-12 to £324.9m last year, while profit fell from £103.6m in 2011-12 to £99.7m.

Profit available for division among the firm's 189 members stood at £97.9m, down slightly on the previous year's £101.7m.

Overall staff costs were also up following an increase in the number of employees from 1,673 to 1,748, resulting in an increase in salaries to £130.4m. In 2012-13 the firm also paid out £91.3m to members in drawings and distributions.

In July the firm reported that profit per equity partner had fallen to £680,000, down from 2011-12′s figure of £744,000. Speaking at the time managing partner James Collis blamed "challenging market conditions" for a difficult start to the year.