PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC's) Australian legal arm has laid off 15 of its Sydney-based associates as part of a programme to cut total staff by 5%.

The firm has blamed the move on a combination of the general economic slowdown and the 11 September US terrorist attacks.

The cuts to the Sydney-based practice show the Asian downturn, which has already led to cuts in the Hong Kong offices of Baker & McKenzie and Shearman & Sterling, is now touching Australia.