Winston & Strawn saw revenue creep up by half a percent in 2016 to $823m (£662m), while net income fell nearly 1% from 2015.

The US firm topped $1m (£804m) in revenue per lawyer for the second straight year, helped in part by continuing a trend of shrinking headcount. Total lawyers fell to 798 from 808 a year ago, while profits per equity partner (PEP) rose 1.1% in 2016 to nearly $1.83m (£1.47m).

The tepid results come after a strong 2015 that saw Winston boost several key financial metrics.

The firm, however, is not standing still following a year that managing partner Thomas Fitzgerald described as "solid".

Fitzgerald has overseen a flurry of lateral hires in recent weeks. Those include 21 partners in Dallas earlier this month from eight different law firms; bringing on Lawrence Hill, the former head of Shearman & Sterling's tax controversy practice; and in December, picking off London finance partner Ian Borman from King & Wood Mallesons, a move that came after a report that Winston was once viewed as a "frontrunner" to save the now-bankrupt European arm of KWM.

Winston hired 24 lateral partners in 2016, according to data analysed by ALM Intelligence, which does not include its recent 21-partner haul in Dallas. The firm's financial year ended on 31 January.

Fitzgerald said Winston's growth was tempered in 2016 by a litigation market in which clients are more aggressively pursuing settling cases. He said that can be good for the firm in the long run by building goodwill with clients, but it also means litigators must "scramble harder" to get cases.

"The moderation in our growth is really a result of the fact that clients continue to want us to produce more for less, which is consistent with the industry in which we live," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said corporate and transactional work bolstered Winston last year, after the 2015 hire of 19 partners from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, including Christopher Zochowski, now the co-chair of Winston & Strawn's M&A and securities practice, and Jay Gould, co-head of its financial services group.

While Winston is no stranger to pursuing large groups of lateral hires from one firm, it took a different approach to its recent growth in Dallas. The firm hired 21 partners from eight firms, including seven from Locke Lord, six from Fish & Richardson, three from Jones Day and one each from Greenberg Traurig, K&L Gates, Norton Rose Fulbright, Squire Patton Boggs and Miller Egan Molter & Nelson.

The complex deal, which involved consulting clients, practice group heads and analysing the Dallas legal market, took eight months to put together, Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said the high profile names in Dallas will help his firm this year compete for big-ticket litigation in that market and others. "We're excited about this year," Fitzgerald said. "We picked up wonderful people at the top of their game and we're going to integrate those people into our firm."