As results for the 2014-15 financial year start trickling into the public domain, one of the more impressive stories so far has been the performance of Addleshaw Goddard. After several difficult years, the national firm has bounced back with a 12% increase in revenue to £192.5m.

Compared with performance over the previous four financial years, over which turnover climbed by 2.3% and the firm incurred two years' of losses, it looks like Addleshaws might be back in business.

Furthermore, though it has yet to release its profit per equity partner number, several partners within the firm expect it to be in the region of £500,000. That would represent an increase of nearly 28% on last year's figure of £392,000 – all without a significant reduction in the number of equity partners. 

But is this year's growth just a flash in the pan or a sign of more good things to come?

No doubt the firm has been helped along the way by a more buoyant market, as managing partner John Joyce (pictured) admits: "Transactional activity across the piece has been up; everyone will tell you that. That will always help us with such a strong corporate and banking practice.

"But the confidence within the place at the moment is at a six-year high. I like to think we will sustain that."

Also boosting the firm's performance is the fact that the upfront costs involved in setting up initiatives such as its paralegal transactional services team in Manchester and international offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Doha, Dubai and Muscat are no longer weighing as heavily on the bottom line, in part because these ventures are now contributing more revenue.

Addleshaws also has less exposure to the kind of conditional fee arrangements that have burnt it on some high-profile litigation mandates in the past, with the firm saying the option is less popular with clients than before. 

One pivotal theme that has emerged under Joyce's leadership since his election last year is a tighter grip on finances and partner performance.

Under a new five-year strategy, outlined in December, the firm is aiming for an equity ladder running from at least £300,000 a year up to £1m for its top-performing partners. It also wants to bring revenue up to at least £250m by the 2017-18 financial year and reduce annual staff turnover to 15%.

The boost in revenue, says Joyce, owes much to the same performance drive that underpins the strategy.

"That greater financial rigour was overdue," says one partner. "The main question has to be, but wasn't, 'are you doing the sort of things that will increase revenue?'"

Or, as one partner puts it more bluntly: "They're running the business like a business now and not like a religious crusade."

There have been multiple managed exits from the partnership as part of this additional financial rigour, Joyce confirms.

But not everything that has helped improve performance at Addleshaws over the last year has been quite so eye-catching.

For example, the firm has introduced new client feedback and pitch management systems to tighten up both processes.

It has also reviewed the use of the external coaches that help train its fee earners and rented out two floors of office space in its London office, one of which has already started having an impact on results. The other sublet, signed earlier this year, will bring in revenue in coming years.

Sustaining its new-found growth will involve all of the partners responding to the squeeze from the top but the firm is also looking externally for growth. "We definitely will continue to look at partner and team moves," says Joyce.

One question that still hovers over Addleshaws is whether it is still committed to seeking a merger after holding several discussions in recent years.

"Everyone is still talking about mergers," notes one Addleshaws partner. "It may be that we move within the next 12 months, or we might move in the next two years – it depends on what's out there – but plenty of firms are on the market."

One ex-partner adds: "I think this year has proved that Addleshaws can survive in its current state. But would it be better as part of something bigger? Probably. Are there partners who want to be part of that? Definitely."

In the meantime the firm is pushing ahead with its own expansion, launching a contract lawyer business earlier this month as part of a new business line called AG Consulting.

Whether or not further merger talks emerge, Addleshaws looks to have made a solid start at rediscovering the potential of a firm that still counts BP, Barclays and Diageo among its client list. The real question now is whether it can maintain this progress.