Announcing its annual results this week, the top 50 UK firm posted average profits per equity partner (PEP) of £240,000, up substantially from £190,000 last year.
Fee income at the 111-partner firm was also up 9% from £53.8m to £58.5m.
Cobbetts has also reintroduced a bonus pool of around £750,000 to be distributed among its 750 staff, which includes everyone except equity partners.
The new cash pot, which equates to around 2.5% of every worker’s salary package, was abandoned last year on the back of Cobbetts’ poor financial performance. The last time a significant bonus was paid to staff was in 2004.
Managing partner Michael Shaw said: “These figures demonstrate that we are well on our way to delivering our long-term strategy. The most pleasing aspect is that we are able to reward the people who have helped to make the business a success and who are committed to its continued progress.”
Shaw added the firm would have posted PEP of £265,000 without the introduction of the new-look bonus system.
The results will be a fillip to Cobbetts, which has undergone a period of major restructuring over the last 12 months.
The firm last year stripped away 15% of its total partnership with the planned exits of around 20 partners in a bid to boost profitability after a series of mergers including tie-ups with Birmingham’s Lee Crowder and Read Hind Stewart in Yorkshire.
However, the firm looks set to remain the least profitable in the UK top 50 despite its high leverage of 8.1:1. The firm has 30 equity partners.
