Osborne Clarke (OC) has announced that it is to lay off up to five real estate lawyers in its UK offices, as the firm reports a 10% increase in turnover at the half-year point.

The firm said that the decision to cut jobs had been made after consulting with clients, and cited continuing uncertainty in the markets as a key factor for the move.

OC, which has three UK offices in London, Bristol and the Thames Valley, is yet to confirm in which offices the job cuts will be made.

Managing partner Simon Beswick (pictured) said: "Having spoken to our real estate clients, our current resource is out of kilter with what the market is willing to pay for. As we are trying to adapt to the market, five of lawyers are at risk of redundancy."

At the same time, the firm has also reported its half-year financial results for 2010-11, with total turnover up 10% to £42.6m from last year's figure of £38.6m.

The firm's three UK offices contributed total fee income of £34.5m, an increase of 8% on the £31.8m taken in during the first half of 2009-10.

The news comes after the UK top 50 firm this summer posted a 12% increase in profits per equity partner to £393,000 for the 2009-10 financial year, while turnover remained broadly flat, falling slightly from £84m in 2008-09 to £83.7m.

OC also this year revamped its practice model to take on a 'sector-first' approach, cutting back on the number of areas it focuses on and creating a new list of core clients.

The strategy rethink came as part of the firm's bid to target more high-value instructions.