City firm CMS Cameron McKenna reported a 14% fall in profits as it became the first big commercial law firm to release its financial results this year.

The decline in profits, from £84m in 2007/08 to £72m for the year to 30 April 2008/09, came as turnover increased 2% to £240m, up from £235m. The profit of £72m equates to average profit per equity partner of £554,000, down from £655,000 last time.

CMS managing partner Duncan Weston said: 'In the context of the current economic climate, I believe we have delivered very reasonable results. Especially given the last six months, it is no surprise that profits are down, but our cash collections have improved year-on-year, which we are particularly pleased with. We enter the new financial year knowing it will be very tough for all of us, but also confident we are well positioned to meet the challenge. 'One year on from CMS convergence, we are seeing considerable benefits from this closer alignment. Referrals between the firms have again increased by an average of 45%, growth which is being replicated year-on-year. Forty-five new partners were appointed across CMS in 2009 and, earlier this month, we saw the simultaneous relaunch of 12 CMS firm websites with a fully integrated functionality and similar look and feel.'