Pinsent Masons has launched a redundancy consultation which could see up to 100 legal personal assistant roles trimmed across the firm.

It is understood that the firm currently operates with a ratio of 4.5 PAs fee-earners to each PA. By entering into this review, the firm is looking to align itself to a 6:1 ratio.

As the review has only just begun, the firm is unable to confirm exactly how many roles will be affected although it will not rule out as many as 100.

The review will only affect UK staff and while no locations have been confirmed, the firm will be reviewing positions on a team-by-team basis across its 11 UK offices.

The firm has confirmed that it will not be outsourcing all admin work to South African company Exigent. Pinsent Masons has worked with Exigent since 2009, becoming the first UK firm to outsource work to the country in the process.

A statement from the firm explained that Pinsent Masons continued investment in technology meant that its number of PA staff and business requirements “are no longer aligned”.

The statement said: “Over the past year Pinsent Masons has invested significantly in technology and other resources to achieve this as efficiently as possible. One of the consequences of this is that our resourcing levels among PA staff and the needs of the business are no longer aligned.

“For that reason we will be entering into a consultation with our PA team. While it is hard to be precise about the outcome of the consultation at this point, we have not ruled out the reallocation of resource or redundancy of some roles. We will do everything possible to support those impacted during what we recognise is an unsettling time.”

The announcement follows as several firms are undergoing strategic reviews across their business services staff.

BLM has been undergoing a review for a while now which has seen reviews in its Southampton and Leeds offices while also announcing that it was looking to cut 50 secretarial roles.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer also announced that it was putting 180 roles into review with many being offered voluntary redundancy.