City firm Herbert Smith has confirmed it plans to cut staff numbers at its London headquarters by 51.

The redundancies, which represent 3.2% of the total London headcount, were announced to staff today as a consultation period was started. The proposed reductions would come principally from the firm's corporate practice (up to 23 fee-earners), legal PA population (up to 19) and real estate practice (up to five fee-earners). The firm said it hopes to achieve as much as possible of these reductions through voluntary redundancies.

David Willis, Herbert Smith's managing partner, said: ‘We need to ensure our London office resources are in step with current and anticipated work levels, and allow us to deliver a level of performance consistent with our strategic goals.

‘It has been a difficult decision which we have taken reluctantly and after much deliberation. We have waited in the hope that conditions in transactional markets would improve - but against a backdrop of continuing uncertainties in these markets, we believe now is the right time to address the issue.’

He explained that fewer employees were choosing to move on in the current economic climate, and with several trainees due to qualify later this year, current staff numbers were unsustainable.

‘We recognise the next few weeks will be an unsettling period for our staff and a key priority for us will be to support them throughout this exercise.’