Taylor Wessing has unveiled a package of measures in response to the economic slump, including offering all employees an extra two weeks of holiday in return for a 3.85 per cent reduction in salary.

The firm is also looking at making up to 20 redundancies and is offering sabbaticals and voluntary redundancy to all staff.

Other measures include sabbaticals on 10 per cent of pay, client secondments and the transfer of lawyers between practice groups.

Following a consultation with staff, up to 10 associates and a similar number of support and secretarial staff are likely to lose their jobs.

The firm is also freezing staff salaries at current levels until the end of the 2010 financial year, which means a reduction in salary bands across the firm.

Taylor Wessing CEO Jonathan Croucher said: “While a small number of redundancies will regrettably be unavoidable, the combination and variety of measures being taken are enabling us to keep the number affected to a minimum.”

The firm has also elected a new managing partner, private equity partner Tim Eyles, who takes over from Michael Frawley in June (6 April).