<a class=DLA Piper to lose 54 Asian jobs in regional shake-up” />DLA Piper has announced it is to cut 54 staff in Asia as part of a restructuring of its business in the region.

The consultation will affect 20 associates and 34 support staff and is due to be completed by the end of March.

The firm has already made cuts in the UK and the US, having run two redundancy consultations in the UK. The first, in December, led to the loss of 15 fee-earners and 16 support staff.

The latest review is currently underway, with 30 lawyers and 110 support staff facing redundancy (10 February).

In the US, 80 associates and 100 support staff have lost their jobs (12 February).

Commenting on the cuts in Asia, regional managing partner Alastair de Costa (pictured) said: “We’re reshaping our resource structure and cost base to better align with current business activity levels as a result of the recent market downturn.

“We believe such a realignment will enable us to emerge from the downturn in a much stronger position as conditions improve.”

DLA Piper’s Asia and Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) practice posted strong results for the 2008 calendar year last month with combined revenue for the two regions rising by 16.2 per cent to £584.9m (23 February).