Pre-tax profits at national firm Irwin Mitchell fell 10.3% to £21.7m in 2014 on a fall in turnover partly caused by the Jackson civil litigation reforms, published accounts show.  

The fast-expanding alternative business structure said that profit before tax ‘has reduced due to a combination of law reform and continued investment in developing the business through recruitment, acquisition and from the opening of a new office’.

Financial statements filed at Companies House for the year ending 30 April 2014 show turnover slipping 2.4%, to £186.7m, from £191.4m in 2013.

‘Overall revenues fell following the transfer of part of the recoveries department to a subsidiary of Irwin Mitchell Holdings Limited,’ the firm said. It noted that: ‘Law reform has impacted significantly on some areas of the business, particularly the motor operations, but this has been offset by organic growth in other areas such as the expanding business legal services division.’

Irwin Mitchell moved into wealth advice last year with the acquisition of a Mayfair firm, the sixth acquisition since the group became an ABS.