SCOTLAND'S bigger law firms have seen their average profits fall, according to a major industry survey.

The Law Society of Scotland's Cost of Time survey, compiled from the responses of 185 firms, shows firms with 10 or more partners recorded an average profit per equity partner of £163,000 in 2014.

That was down from the median of £197,000 seen in the prior year and the peak of £223,000 recorded in 2006.

The society pointed out it had seen profits in the bigger firms ranging from £120,000 to £300,000 for last year.

In contrast some smaller firms enjoyed an uptick in their profitability during 2014 with those employing between two and four partners seeing an improvement from £64,000 to £75,000.

However sole practitioners saw their profits fall slightly from £47,000 to £42,000 while firms with between five and nine partners were down from £99,000 to £92,000. However that was still the second best performance in that category since before the start of the financial crisis in 2008.

Across the industry as a whole there was growth from £64,000 to £69,000.

The median salary for salaried partners across all firms was £54,500.

Alistair Morris, president of the Law Society, said: "In general law firms appear to be recovering in the wake of the downturn, although they are yet to reach the same levels of profitability seen in 2008."