Travers Smith has doubled the size of the profit pool it makes available for partner bonuses to provide greater flexibility to reward top performers.

The firm has increased the maximum size of the merit pool used to reward equity and fixed-share partners from 5% to 10% of profits available for distribution to partners.

The 10% figure is the maximum amount it will allocate for bonuses going forward; however, the firm will not always pay out the full amount. The firm is currently deciding on bonuses for the 2010-11 financial year, with the new expanded bonus pool available to draw on.

Travers introduced the merit pool for partners in 2003, with the bonus sitting on top of the firm's 10-year lockstep, which sees partners move up five points a year, from 50 points through to a 100-point plateau.

Managing partner Andrew Lilley said: "With uncertainties in the market increasing at the moment, we decided it was prudent to have the potential for more flexibility on our partner remuneration.

"We are, and intend to remain, a primarily lockstep firm, but of course we need to ensure that we retain the right degree of flexibility."

The decision to double the size of the partner bonus pool comes after Travers recently extended the amount of time partners must serve in the firm's salaried partner rank from three years to four.

The firm said that the decision to extend time spent as a salaried partner meant the firm would not have to delay promoting associates to the partnership.

Travers currently has 16 junior partners and 47 full equity partners, with partners at the top of the equity ladder receiving around £1.1m. Average profits per equity partner stood at £650,000 for the 2010-11 financial year.