Revenue at the 11 firms that make up the shipping and insurance grouping in the UK top 50 grew by 2.8% in 2014-15, from £1.71bn to £1.76bn.

However, this headline figure masks the radically different financial performance of firms within this cohort, from BLM which grew by 16.8% to Ince & Co which contracted by 8.1%.

Shipping firms faced a particularly difficult year as the worldwide shipping market continued to struggle to emerge from a prolonged slump that has plagued the industry since 2008.

In addition to the aforementioned firms, Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) and Hill Dickinson, which also do a substantial amount of shipping work, shrank by 3.5% and 6.5% respectively.

Paul Herring, Ince & Co's chairman and global head of shipping says there is a malaise in the sector. "The shipping industry is currently suffering from oversupply caused by a significant growth in the world shipping fleet in both 2011 and 2012." He says, "This oversupply has been exacerbated by recent fears of a slowdown in the Chinese economy, which could result in diminished appetite for commodities such as coal."

Despite its falling revenue, Ince & Co managed to hold profit per equity partner PEP steady at £275,000, amid a restructuring of its partnership. As a result of the restructuring six partners left and 10 support staff were made redundant.

But HFW and Hill Dickinson saw their PEP drop substantially in tandem with their revenue. HFW's average PEP fell by 9% from £545,000 to £496,000, while Hill Dickinson experienced a 4.4% drop in PEP, from £272,000 to £260,000.

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The major success story in the insurance and shipping group was BLM which grew revenue by 16.8% and PEP by 8.2% in 2014-15. During the year the firm merged with Campbell Fitzpatrick Solicitors in Northern Ireland and HBM Sayers in Scotland to break the £100m revenue barrier for the first time.

Other successes included Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) and Clyde & Co, which also have strong shipping practices, and saw their revenue grow by 7% and 8.3% respectively. WFW's turnover grew from £117m to £125.2m and its PEP increased by 8.3%, from £520,000 to £480,000, while Clyde's revenue increased from £365.1m to £395.3m and its PEP rose 10% from £600,000 to £660,000.

WFW's co-managing partner Lothar Wegener says the firm's growth was actually stronger than the figures suggest but that it was masked by exchange rate fluctuations because of its substantial European business. He adds: "We are happy about that [growth] as one of our main drivers for the firm is we want to grow and we want to mainly grow organically. The last year also resulted in a good uplift in profitability."

Otherwise, growth was hard to come by in a market, which despite improvements since the recession, was still tough.

andrew-leaitherland-dwfAndrew Leaitherland (pictured) managing partner and chief executive of DWF summed up the state of the market saying: "You have to hustle hard, it's not as hard as it was a year or two ago but you still have to hustle."

Simon Hodson, senior partner of DAC Beachcroft, noted the tough conditions in the volume insurance market, saying: "At the volume end of the market life isn't easy. Keeping an eye on margins and only taking on work that is valuable is important."

But rival Irwin Mitchell which has a sizeable consumer-focused claimant business grew by 3.9% in the last financial year.

Irwin Mitchell chief executive, Andrew Tucker, says that the introduction of fixed fees for some personal injury work has led the firm to introduce a raft of changes to how its business operates in recent years. He says: "It has affected turnover over two to three years and had a profit impact, but we have continued to grow and our complex personal injury business has performed strongly. It has been a managed process to adjust our business to suit the new market conditions."

Looking ahead, partners are sanguine about the opportunities to pick-up work from insurers to grow their businesses. Leaitherland and Hodson claim that although insurers are looking to get better value from their legal suppliers, both of their firms were well placed to profit from any market consolidation.

Leaitherland says: "In the defendant insurance market there is a significant degree of consolidation which we have benefitted from as the insurers are shrinking their panels."

Hodson echoes his comments saying: "At the higher end of the market there is a continued focus on quality, it is less price sensitive, the market is focusing on fewer players so there is an opportunity to get greater market share."