Major firms are forecasting single-digit growth in fee income for the coming year, despite continued double-digit growth up to April, according to business advisory firm Deloitte.

The top 100 achieved 12% growth in the quarter ended 30 April compared to the same period in 2007, Deloitte reported in its Quarterly Legal Sector Survey this week – which the Big Four firm said showed ‘robustness to the credit crunch’.

However, Jeremy Black, associate partner in Deloitte’s professional practices group, said firms were forecasting growth rates of just under 10% for the next financial year.

For 2007/08, average fee income growth of 13.2% was achieved by the top 100. The top 10 firms’ fee incomes grew 17%, while the remainder of the top 100 achieved average growth of 12.5%.

Average fees per fee-earner increa­sed 5.4% this year – despite average chargeable hours falling 2%.

Black said: ‘It will be interesting to see… whether law firm performance simply lags other sectors or if the work generated by financial turmoil insulates firms from any downturn.’