Last year proved to be profitable for New Jersey law firms with practices fueled by government work, according to data released Thursday by the state Election Law Enforcement Commission.

The top 10 law firms awarded contracts earned $71.57 million in fees in 2016, an increase of $9.27 million—or almost 15 percent—over the year before, ELEC said.

At the same time, their contributions to political candidates and committees dropped. The top 10 made $615,446 in recorded contributions last year, compared to $680,405 in 2015, ELEC said. That represents a decrease of 9.5 percent.