Gateley is set to lay off around 20 fee earners across its offices in England.

The firm's construction, real estate, dispute resolution and employment practices are among those which will be affected across its offices in Birmingham, London, Manchester and Nottingham.

The firm's outposts in Edinburgh and Glasgow – where it operates as HBJ Gateley – as well as Leeds, Leicester and Dubai will not be affected by the cuts.

Gateley England senior partner Michael Ward (pictured) said: "It is with regret that we confirm we are entering redundancy discussions with a number of our fee earning staff. We are aiming to keep the number of proposed redundancies to below 20 across all of our English offices.

"Whilst many of our competitors made redundancies when the downturn first happened, we took a different view, to avoid job losses. We believed the economy would recover quicker than it has but we are now four years on and we understand there are still some difficult times ahead."

"That said, as a firm we have come a long way through this recession, investing in two new office locations in Manchester and Leeds, both of which are going from strength to strength."

The news of the redundancies, first reported by RollOnFriday, marks the latest incidence of job cuts at UK law firms after a raft of recent announcements.

Northwest firm Pannone recently announced a second redundancy round this year in November, with up to 16 jobs set to be cut, while Pinsent Masons is also cutting around 15 support staff roles in a second redundancy round this year on the back of its merger with Scots firm McGrigors.

Meanwhile, DLA Piper is this week beginning a redundancy consultation affecting 251 lawyers and back office staff, following a review of its UK business.

The firm will consult on the closure of its 85-person Glasgow office as well as the closure or divestment of its 50-strong defendant insurance practice, as well as the consolidation into one location of its document production unit, which currently employs 116 people across the firm's eight UK offices.