Eversheds has cashed in as the Greater London Authority (GLA) nearly doubled its legal spend among its panel of six firms last year, figures obtained by Legal Week have revealed.

Eversheds was paid £867,494 between 1 April 2014 and 31 January 2015, a nearly four-fold increase on the £231,381 it took home in the complete 2013-14 financial year.

Between April 2013 and 31 January 2015 Eversheds took home £1.1m in fees, nearly five times the amount paid to its nearest rival Herbert Smith Freehills, which was paid £225,332 over the period.

A source at Eversheds put much of the increase in the firm's billings over the last year down to an influx of claimants looking to meet deadlines for compensation claims arising from compulsory purchase orders issued by the GLA in the run up to the London Olympics in 2012.

"A lot of people left it right until the end to apply, and a lot are still unresolved," they said, predicting continued work for the firm in that area.

Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, which advised the GLA in connection with the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games in London in 2003, was the second-highest recipient of fees over during the first 10 months of the current financial year, bringing in £91,169.

The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, show that the GLA's legal spending across its panel of firms for the 2014-15 financial year is already 73% up on last year.

The GLA spent £1.1m across its six panel firms between 1 April 2014 and 31 January 2015, up from £618,152 for the whole of the 2013-14 financial year.

However, panel firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), which last financial year received nearly £100,000 in fees from the GLA, has not pocketed any so far this financial year.

The roster of six firms was appointed in October 2012 to a four-year panel, though the GLA has the ability to extend the line-up for up to three further years.

Total legal spend, including firms outside the panel, by the GLA fell marginally from £2.99m in 2012-13, to £2.95m in 2013-14, but has already exceeded £3.2m in the first ten months of the 2014-15 financial year.

Total legal spending so far in this financial year is more than double the amount the GLA spent in 2010-11 when it forked out £1.3m.

Outside the panel, legacy Squire Sanders & Dempsey – now Squire Patton Boggs – was the highest biller of the last five years, taking home just under £500,000 in fees over the period.

The GLA put the increase in total overall spend down to additional legal responsibilities around housing and regeneration projects that it incurred after the Localism Act of 2011.

The figures also showed that £2m of the GLA's annual spend went towards a shared service scheme with Transport for London, with a combined legal team covering commercial law, dispute resolution, property and planning, employment law and public and regulatory law.

In his response to the FOI request the GLA's executive director of resources, Martin Clarke, said: "In some cases legal costs incurred have been met by third parties, for instance in relation to the commercial development of GLA property, or recovered following successful legal proceedings."

The GLA panel also includes Dentons and Trowers & Hamlins.

A spokesperson for BLP declined to comment on the figures.