Turnover (£m): 18.6
RPL (£k): 233

Wedlake Bell’s 2010-11 results are skewed by the 1 April 2010 divestment of its Guernsey office. That became Spicer & Partners, and while the firms still work together, they remain financially independent. As a result headline turnover at Wedlake Bell dropped by 6.1 per cent, from £19.8m to £18.6m, although managing partner Philip Matthews says that underlying revenue for the firm, which now only has a London ­office, was down by approximately 1 per cent.

Profit was also down, by 14 per cent. However, this drop, giving an average profit per equity partner of £210,000, came after a record 67 per cent increase between 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Wedlake Bell retains a tight equity ­partnership of 14, with another 26 junior ­equity partners who are paid a fixed share plus a small performance-related bonus.
The drop in profitability was accounted for to some extent by the cost of the divestment. Wedlake Bell also lost a small number of ­partners, adding another cost to the firm.