More than a quarter of secretarial roles are at risk of redundancy at top-20 firm Taylor Wessing.

The international firm wants to cut its London-based secretarial staff by 26 roles and has started a 30-day consultation process with affected staff.

A spokeswoman for the firm said voluntary redundancy would not be offered and the move would not involve any outsourcing of back-office roles.

Tim Eyles, UK managing partner, said the restructure was designed ‘with a view to providing the best and most efficient service possible’ to clients.

Taylor Wessing is the latest top-20 firm to seek to reduce the costs of its back-office department. In May Wragge & Co confirmed up to 30 jobs could go as a result of a restructure.

According to annual benchmarking data from Winmark Research, 20% of law firms have outsourced such back-office functions, and a further 8% are actively planning to do so.

Taylor Wessing recently announced that UK turnover increased in 2012/13 from £101m to £104.5m, with its partnership growing by 15% to 365 partners. It has 21 offices across Europe and Asia.