Turnover (£m): 44.5
Average PEP: 230
Equity spread (£k): 100-280
Profit margin (%): 16
RPL (£k): 178

As usual, North West firm Cobbetts ­provided a bare minimum of financial ­information for The Lawyer UK 200 ­Annual Report. The firm reported a
2010-11 turnover of £44.5m, a mere 1 per cent up from the £44.1m reported in its 2009-10 LLP accounts. ’Net profit’ was ­reported as £10m, down from £10.5m, ­although this figure covers remuneration available to all partners and not just the ­equity.

The firm attributed this drop to the £1.9m one-off cost of returning all its staff to full-time working at the start of the financial year after operating a four-day week for 12 months. The average profit per equity partner figure of £230,000 is an ­estimate.

Cobbetts said its real estate team increased revenue by 7 per cent in 2010-11 compared with the previous year’s. TMT was up by 8 per cent. Corporate work ­appears to remain sluggish, particularly in the regions. While the firm said litigation was “busy”, it did not give an indication of whether revenue was up.

The headcount at Cobbetts grew slightly last year after a substantial drop between 2007-08 and 2009-10. The firm now ­employs 250 qualified lawyers and 383 fee-earners, with 86 partners - one more than in 2009-10. The Lawyer estimates that the equity partnership remained static at 31 partners.