Hogan Lovells has offered voluntary retirement to hundreds of US business support staff, a day after announcing cuts in London.

The firm said that an estimated 400 employees, who have been with the firm for at least five years, will be invited to take voluntary retirement.

A small minority are expected to take up the offer of between 5 to 10 per cent of staff.

In a statement, the firm said: “The drivers behind our voluntary early retirement program are two-fold.

First, it is in response to requests we have had from a number of business services members to undertake early retirement and offers our people enhanced terms.

“Second, it enables us to look again at our business services roles and where we deliver those services from. Together they give us an opportunity to accelerate how we deliver our business services operations in the US and globally, making sure they are aligned to the future needs of our firm.

“This is a voluntary program – it is entirely down to the individual employees to decide to apply.”

Yesterday, Hogan Lovells confirmed it had kickstarted a consultation in its UK business services division ahead of a move to transfer or cut 90 roles from London.

The decision followed a strategic review and restructuring of its UK operations, and will affect around 78 business services staff and 12 legal support roles.

These jobs are set to be transferred or removed from the London office, with roles being created in the firm’s legal support centres in Birmingham and Johannesburg.

Hogan Lovells opened a low-cost legal centre in Birmingham in 2014 with 70 people.

The launch came a month after the firm opened its first legal support office in Johannesburg, now made up of 110 individuals.

Hogan Lovells also opened its first business services centre in the US in Louisville at the start of last year.