Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer grew global profits by 15% to £481m in its last financial year, as the rise in staff costs was kept close to 4%.

According to its LLP accounts for the year to the end of April 2018, on a 7% rise in revenues to £1.43bn, Freshfields achieved a profit margin of 33% – compared with 31% the previous year.

Staff costs rose just £25m to £667.3m. This figure helped give Freshfields the slowest pace of cost growth of most of its magic circle peers in the five years since April 2013.

At 20%, its increase compares with 30% at Linklaters, 26% at Clifford Chance and 27% at Allen & Overy. In the year to April 2013, Freshfields' staff costs were £554m. Slaughter and May's accounts are not made public because it is not an LLP.

The latest figures show Freshfields' profits per equity partner rose 12% to £1.734m but discretionary profit to be allocated to Freshfields' members dropped by £6m to £437m. The firm said this was due to changes in the provisions of pension annuities.

Total pay for top management, which includes senior partner Edward Braham, managing partner Stephan Eilers and former co-managing partner Chris Pugh, who resigned in August 2017, dropped £500,000 to £18.6m.

Pay among other major firms has risen sharply. The 13-strong senior management team at Clifford Chance were awarded a 40% increase to £22m in the 2017-18 financial year, while the highest-paid partner at Ashurst took home £1.4m in what is the firm's largest partner payout for more than a decade.

This year's figures will see the impact of Freshfields' revamped lockstep, drawn up in November 2017 and put into effect on 1 May last year. It was designed to help retain talent, though more than 60 partners saw their profit share reduced last June. At the time, Freshfields declined to comment.