Five DLA Piper partners left the partnership last month as the firm continues to reshape its practice in the UK.

It is understood that, while the firm has continued to recruit new partners, it has also trimmed partner headcount.

According to Companies House, 25 partners have left the partnership since the start of the year, while 32 partners have been appointed, although this includes the 20 new partners promoted around the UK in January.

The most recent partner departures, based across the firm’s English offices, are no longer listed as DLA Piper employees and a spokesman confirmed they had left the firm. At the time of going to press, they had not registered as members of another law firm.

The exits come three months after a DLA Piper redundancy consultation that led to the loss of 124 jobs, including 24 lawyers.

Commenting on the partner departures, a firm spokesman said: “Of course we’ve made adjustments. This is a reflection of that.”

Two of the departing partners are in the real estate practice, with one each leaving the firm in tax, corporate and projects.

DLA Piper sparked controversy when it launched its 140-job redundancy programme in February (10 February 2009) by being one of the few firms to offer the minimum statutory pay-off to axed staff.