DLA Piper has confirmed another round of job cuts at its US practice, just days after Howrey announced the loss of 32 support staff, reports The Am Law Daily.

DLA chief operating officer and director of US operations Bob Bratt said in a statement: "It is important for us to ensure that our resources, including support staff, are right-sized in order for us to maximise the performance of our firm.

"We believe we have an optimal level of support staff to assist our lawyers in delivering the world-class legal services for which our clients rely on us."

The firm refused to confirm how many jobs would be lost.

Two years ago DLA let go of five tech lawyers from its overseas offices, with the firm then laying off 80 lawyers and 100 staff members in February 2009 and another 21 associates and 100 staffers the following summer. Those layoffs included 20 lawyers and 34 members of staff from DLA's Asia operations and at least eight associates in Dubai.

According to the latest Am Law 100 financial data, DLA's US arm saw gross revenue fall nearly 14% to roughly $1bn (£625m) in 2009, while profits per partner decreased 5% to $1.2m (£750,000). The firm also saw the size of its equity partnership shrink 10% in 2009.

Bratt's statement continued: "We are working with those affected by this right-sizing to assist them with outplacement services that will support them with their transition and work with them to identify new employment opportunities."

The job cuts at DLA Piper's US business comes despite apparent signs of revival at the firm's UK and international practice, which last week announced an 8.5% rise in revenues in the first half of its 2010-11 financial year.

The Am Law Daily is a blog on law.com, Legal Week's US affiliate title.