Turnover (£m): 30.6
Average PEP: 205
Equity spread (£k): 105-688
Profit margin (%): 11
RPL (£k): 247

Manches failed to halt its falling revenue, with turnover down in 2010 to £30.6m from £31.1m in 2009 and £34.1m in 2008. However, the firm accounts on a calendar year, so its most recent figures do not reflect the progress it has made coming out of the recession. Net profit was also down, by 12.5 per cent, from £4m to £3.5m, while the ­equity ­partner count contracted slightly from 19 to 17. Average profit per equity partner fell by 2.8 per cent to £205,000, while the firm’s partnership also reduced, from 54 in 2009 to 45 in 2010.

Manches started its financial year with the appointment of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe’s former regional managing officer for Europe Alexandrina Le Clezio as chief executive. Le Clezio parted company with Manches after six months for personal ­reasons and a replacement was found in Judit Petho, the former chief operating ­officer at RSM International. Petho’s ­mission is to find new ways of growing while also tightening financial controls. Petho chairs the firm’s board, which ­comprises equity partner representatives from the firm’s London and Thames Valley bases.

The firm’s two managing partners, Melvin Pedro in London and Richard Smith in ­Oxford and Reading, take responsibility for their own office lawyers.