Addleshaw Goddard secured a third consecutive year of double-digit growth in 2005-06 and achieved a PEP of £472,000. But that was something of a disappointment to the firm's ambitious managing partner Mark Jones, who was gunning for £500,000.

PEP growth slowed from the 25 per cent explosion in 2004-05 to 17 per cent this year. Jones has scaled back his lofty ambitions for the 2006-07 financial year, saying he will be happy with any PEP figure above £500,000, which the firm regards as a benchmark.

Addleshaws' modified lockstep runs from 50 to 150 points for equity partners. Last year none of its 110 equity partners reached the top of the available equity spread. For the 2004-05 financial year each point was valued at £5,225, making the maximum available to an Addleshaws partner on 150 points £783,700. From the bottom to the top of equity the spread is £261,200 to £679,200.

Last year Addleshaws changed the entry points for new partners so that all new promotions enter the equity on 50 points. Previously new partners in its Northern offices had entered the equity on 40 points, while those in London entered on 50.

The first three years for new partners are governed by a lockstep that takes them to 80 points. Their ascent is then part-governed by performance up to 110 points, and movement up the top tier, with points from 120 to 150, is entirely merit-based. The top partners at the firm are now on 130 points.

The profit Addleshaws has saved has resulted in a cash pool for future investment. At the start of the current financial year the firm held a £16m war chest, a far cry from the £11m deficit it was burdened with in May 2003. Addleshaws has a plan for all that cash: to bring its entire London staff under one roof. Jones's timeframe has 2009 pencilled, by which time the firm aims to have moved out of its current 80,000sq ft office at Aldersgate Street.