DLA Piper has announced an 8.5% rise in turnover at the half-year mark with revenues for its UK and international practice hitting £280m, up from £258m at the same point last year.

The figure outpaces DLA's budget target of £277m for the period ending 31 October. The firm expects its profits will be up substantially in the current financial year.

The result will be viewed as a welcome return to growth for DLA Piper, which saw a slight dip in revenue in 2009-10 and an 18.3% fall in profits per equity partner to £527,000.

That performance, which the firm blamed on tough trading conditions at its Middle East practice, dented the upwardly-mobile law firm's record as one of the most expansive major UK practices of the last 15 years.

The turnover figure accounts for DLA Piper's UK, European and Asian businesses with its US practice operating as a separate partnership and profit centre.

The news follows the release of a number of firms' half-year results, with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert posting a 17% hike in turnover, while Pinsent Masons recorded a 1% increase for the first six months of the 2010-11 financial year.