DWF has made 38 fee-earner roles redundant following the completion of a consultation which kicked off in May.

The consultation, which placed around 80 jobs at risk across its Manchester, Coventry, Teesside, Edinburgh and London offices, forms part of a wider restructuring which also saw 38 roles cut in its central services team earlier in the year.

The firm declined to give a breakdown of where the reductions in headcount were made.

The job losses come after DWF underwent a sustained period of consolidation in which it carried out five major acquisitions in the space of 18 months.

In 2012, it acquired northeast outfit Crutes, Midlands firm Buller Jeffries and Scots business Biggart Baillie, while in February this year, the firm took over London professional indemnity specialists Fishburns and, most notably, acquired Cobbetts via a pre-pack purchase.

These deals have transformed the size of the business with average staff numbers growing from 1,454 in 2011-12 to 2,295 in 2012-13, and average lawyer numbers increasing to 891 from 490.

DWF managing partner Andrew Leaitherland (pictured) said: "As a growing business we have done well to continue to increase the number of people we employ despite the challenging economic conditions. With over 2,500 people in the business it is inevitable that there will be reviews from time to time to try to align headcount levels with levels of activity, both anticipated and actual, within the business.

"This unfortunately does affect our people but we want to ensure that they are supported throughout these difficult times as much as possible."

DWF recently announced an 85% increase in revenue to £188.2m for the 2012-13 financial year which is set to catapult the firm into the UK top 20.