Partners at Bingham McCutchen have been asked to take an additional pay "haircut" after global revenue at the US firm plummeted by $110m (£65.8m) last year.

The 12.6% drop, which left total revenue for 2013 at $762m (£458m), came in the wake of a decline in US restructuring and securities litigation work.

The firm has now asked members of its global partnership, including some in its global management committee, to take a minimum pay "haircut" of 10% in addition to any drop in individual performance-based remuneration. 

Though the firm has a large performance-based element to its remuneration system, all partners have seen an additional drop in earnings and some asked to leave.

James Roome, London office managing partner, said: "I would say as a general comment, that we've experienced this downturn later than other firms because we had such a good recession.

"We may change the emphasis on growth of some of our practices, but I don't see any seismic changes coming through."

The firm denied that all partners had taken a haircut, though a number of management committee members – including chairman Jay Zimmerman – have agreed to accept a slash in pay.

"Partners who had exceptional years were rewarded for such," said a spokesperson. "Some received larger cuts, some actually went up in terms of compensation. As you can imagine, we spent a lot of time assessing individual and group performance."

Average profit per equity partner (PEP) was down 12.8% to $1.47m (£884,000), compared to 2012 average profits of $1.69m (£1.01m).

Profits are likely to have taken a further hit, given the firm's major investment in its Kentucky-based global services centre, which launched last April with an estimated price tag of $22.5m (£13.5m).

However, revenue per lawyer saw a smaller decrease – dropping just 1.1% to $958,491 (£575,750) – meaning firm-wide lawyer headcount fell by 11% in the year.

In London, revenue per lawyer was higher than the rest of the firm, though it fell 3% to $1.09m (£654,400), with office revenue at $52.3m (£31.4m), a 4% fall.

Roome said the London figures reflected "a reasonable year", adding that he did not expect City headcount to suffer.

He continued: "The decline was largely due to the debt restructuring market in Europe, which was softer in the second half of 2013 after a strong run."

"Our corporate and litigation practices made up for the quieter restructuring environment with several substantial projects arising out of prior year restructurings."

European restructuring matters in 2013 included advising the senior lenders of Terreal Group in France, as well as continuing work for the creditors of all three Icelandic banks.

Last year, the firm's US offices were also impacted by the departure of an 11-partner securities enforcement and regulatory team to Sidley Austin, including broker-dealer practice group head Neal Sullivan and former UBS Financial Services general counsel Herbert Janick.

Earlier this week, Sidley Austin, Latham & Watkins and Vinson & Elkins all announced revenue increases for 2013.