A firm with 30 years’ experience of international property law is to shut it doors this week as the recession takes its toll on the sector.

The International Law Partnership, which provides specialist advice through offices in London and Leeds, has seen its income plummet from £2m to £500,000 over the past year.

Senior partner John Howell explained: ‘Over the last few years, the volume of our property work increased to 80% of our work, and the fall in income makes it impossible to sustain our business.’

He added: ‘Half our property work has been for developers, many of which are now going bust. We’ve already written off £600,000 in fees we’ll never be paid. We saw the downturn coming, but its severity took us by surprise.’

Stefano Lucatello, head of the Hull and London-based International Property Law Centre, a firm that specialises in international work which is wholly unconnected to the International Law Partnership, said it has seen its property work drop by 50-60% over the past 18 months.

‘We’re doing all right as we’re not solely reliant on property work,’ he said. ‘[But] we’ve received a lot of calls from other solicitors asking for advice on their international property work as other departments or firms close.’

Lucatello predicts it will be five years before the market picks up, but says one new work stream is fractional ownership – a reworking of timeshare arrangements.The sector’s slump has also hit Rowlands in Manchester, which is closing its international property department.

Jon Andrews, the firm’s managing partner, said: ‘We’ve seen a dramatic fall-off in the most regular types of work, such as people buying a property abroad as an investment or holiday home.’ Andrews added that international property makes up only about 4% of the firm’s practice.